Mass Effect: Strange Heroes
by WS6-TA
Summary: Two friends and thieves run into Shepard and crew who recruit them on a galaxy saving mission. Only problem is the two newcomers aren't the heroes the crew thinks they are. How long can they keep their past a secret? OC/Shepard (Title Change)
1. Chapter 1

Garrus Vakarian, turian C-Sec agent, was not having a great day. Although the past few haven't been kind to the poor agent, today was the cherry on top. A few days ago turian spectre Saren was accused of leading a geth attack on human colony Eden Prime. Vakarian was in charge of investigation, which at first excited the young agent. Only a few hours in and the excitement turned to frustration as every lead he had went to a dead end due to not having the authority to access the classified reports Saren filled out. Then this morning his investigation was brought to an abrupt halt by his boss. Within the same minute of being dropped he met the human that the alliance had been pushing as a spectre candidate, Commander Jenna Shepard. Standing at about 5'10" she definitely didn't look the part but after seeing some footage all doubt was erased from his from his mind her ability. She was an N7 graduate, the highest human military Interplanetary Combatives Training. If he hadn't had the privilege of viewing the vids he would never have guessed that the little redhead with bright green eyes had ever held a weapon in her life. Her freckled face was nearly flawless and she had a sweet voice that didn't command respect like most military personnel have, then again when they met she wasn't treating him like a subordinate but an equal. The commander informed him that because of the attack on Eden Prime and the prothean beacon that got destroyed in the process happened under her watch, she was most likely going to be rejected as a spectre candidate. In fact she, along with two of her squad, were on their way to present evidence to the council. Garrus had wished them luck even though inside he knew it was all but pointless as Saren was the council's favorite pet. Now however he was strolling through the small crowds of the Kithoi Ward. If he was caught here he could face termination from C-Sec since he wasn't in his sector. Zakara ward was under his jurisdiction and while on duty was not allowed to any of the other four wards or the presidium without special permission, as in the case of the Saren investigation, or extreme emergency. He was technically on lunch break visiting an old friend who wanted to borrow money. The visit was less than friendly as Garrus suspected he would be enabling his friend's red sand addiction, and when the agent refused his colleague threw a massive fit. He was so lost in thought that he nearly missed the delivery shuttle that was landed in the middle of the walkway. Garrus sighed in aggravation and approached the cockpit, knowing full well he was out of his district. The person behind the controls, human he could tell by the body shape, was dressed in normal transport attire, except the emergency breather strapped to his face which concealed his face from the bridge of the nose down. The pilot had to forcefully unlatch the door and with some exertion pushed it open.

"Apologies, officer, my shuttle shut down just before I could break the gravity well. I had to pull an emergency landing," the pilot explained without being asked.

Garruse indicated the radio "Did you alert CTC?" he asked, noting to himself that the radio wasn't active, meaning that, unless he had been here a while, Citadel Traffic Control hadn't been notified.

The human half turned to look back at it "I'm sorry, sir, it all happened so fast I didn't think about it. I'm kinda new, I've only been on my own for a week. But I called a local mechanic with my omni-tool, he should be here soon,"

Garrus stared hard into the human's eyes, looking for the lie. Being a detective since leaving the military he had easily picked up the talent for reading lies in most species' faces. He still had a little trouble reading humans, with them being as new to the galaxy as they were. The transport worker's story sounded believable. When you aren't expecting trouble it can throw you for a loop and make you forget procedures. At the same time the whole ordeal didn't sit right with him. The worker was too calm for what just supposedly happened to him.

The turian was brought out of his musings by the human speaking "Here he is now,"

Garrus turned and immediately he was struck on the jaw with a butt of a gun, dropping him instantly. As the officer lay slipping in and out of consciousness he could hear laughing, through blurry vision a figure leaned in close, patted his left mandible, and Garrus swore a human skull spoke to him "Was that as good for you as it was for me?" it said with a chuckle and the turian's world faded to black.

_15 minutes earlier_

"Anybody even blinks, and they losing their breathing privileges," a human male in formal wear threatened from behind his clown mask as he shakily scanned the room with his military grade M-9 Tempest smg. Codenamed 'Jester', he was in charge of crowd control at an omi-tool market he and a crew were holding up. The store they were robbing held the latest and most expensive omni-tools as well as some older models that were still rather valuable. Another human, dressed similarly as the first, came rushing through from the back room carrying a bag of loot, even in his hurry he still kept his M-8 Avenger assault rifle at the ready as he passed through the floored customers just in case anyone felt like being a hero. This man, codenamed 'Jack' due to his frightening jack-o-lantern mask, was the second in command of the heist and in charge of carrying half the loot. Finally the third and final member of the store team emerged from the back. Human as well and wearing a suit like the others, codenamed 'Silver Skull' or 'SS' for short for the gray skull mask he donned, he strode through the store with his M-23 Katana shotgun held in one hand to his side with the loot on his back.

When he reached the door as well he turned back to address the frightened civilians "Ladies and gentleman, I apologize for the inconvenience and I thank you for being so cooperative today. Have a great day," finally the three men exited and made a mad dash through the alleys in the direction their truck waited. The sudden sound of C-Sec sirens lent speed to their heels.

Jester kept an eye on his omni-tool as they ran, using a program that detected C-Sec frequencies, he called out directions to take to avoid heat.

"Left!" he shouted and the other two slightly ahead of him immediately altered their course seconds before a C-Sec shuttle screamed down the path they had been taking "Right!" again they changed course.

As they approached another intersection two C-sec agents, turian and asari, popped from around the right corner "Freeze! Weapons down!" the asari screamed at them. Jester dove for cover behind a large piece of metal scrap while Jack popped off a burst of rounds at the turian forcing the officer into cover. The Asari stayed in the open and began to concentrate her biotics to construct a barrier. Before it came into effect she took six rounds to the chest from the assault rifle, killing her instantly.

"HQ, officer down! Repeat offic-" the turian was cut off by a stream from the tempest as Jester had snuck around his cover using a stolen prototype cloaking device.

"Fuck, there wasn't supposed to be any C-Sec casualties!" Jack shouted.

SS shook his head "It's them or us! Let's go, I doubt our gunfire went unnoticed,"

"We're surrounded by buildings that go up past the barrier, I doubt the sound traveled too far," Jester chimed in.

SS turned his attention to him "You're more than welcome to stay here and test that theory,"

"Hell no," was the reply and the trio set off. The rest of the trip was less dramatic and as they burst from the alley to the street where the truck was parked they froze for a second at the sight that greeted them. A turian C-Sec was confronting their getaway driver. Their fourth member, human as well codenamed 'Shumacher' for his driving skills, glanced past the turian to the trio and nodded slightly as the officer indicated something in the shuttle. Slowly the crew approached, trying to make as little noise as possible. Shumacher continued his well rehearsed story on why the delivery shuttle was landed in the middle of a walkway. When they were within arms reach of the turian, SS grabbed the stock of his shotgun as well as the barrel and cocked back for a strike.

Shumacher then pointed to him and said to the officer "Here he is now,"

As the turian turned towards him Silver Skull swung hard and his attack struck true right on the left mandible, knocking the turian on his back. The officer was still slightly conscious as his arms weakly moved to try and reach his face. Shumacher and Jack both laughed at the unfortunate turian.

SS leaned down to the hurt being and patted the mandible where he struck "Was that as good for you as it was for me?" he said with a chuckle and the turian's eyes widened for a second before his body went limp.

"Is he dead?" Jester asked leaning in for a closer look.

Jack shook his head "Nope, just unconscious,"

At that Jester aimed his smg for a killing shot but was pushed into the air "None of that, no killing unless absolutely necessary," SS reprimanded the team rookie.

"Guys? I'd like to get the fuck outta here before he wakes up or C-Sec comes by this way," Shumacher spoke up. The group piled into the shuttle and ascended into the artificial sky. As they rose above the gravity barrier a squad of C-Sec shuttles streaked passed them causing Jester to instinctively clutch his Tempest tighter.

"Easy, kid, we're all but home free now," Jack reassured him.

Jester chuckled nervously, the adrenaline having not worn off yet "Yeah, we did it!"

Silver Skull couldn't help but smile from behind his mask "You did good today, kid. Our next job we'll be sure to call you,"

"Fuck yeah, I'll be down! Did you guys see me drop that salarian prick? Haha dumb lizard didn't even know what hit him," the rookie recounted causing the crew to chuckle.

"Oh yeah, you showed him," Jack humored him, knowing that the feeling. The rest of the trip was spent listening to the rookie talk himself up.

As they landed at the predetermined warehouse SS addressed Jester "You better split. Once we get the creds from this haul we'll get it dropped off to you,"

The rookie cocked his head to the side as they clambered from the shuttle and SS was sure he looked confused under his mask "No bank accounts?"

The leader shook his head "Nope, we only deal with physical currency. Bank accounts are too easy to trace and can raise suspicion. You better lie low for a while too," he ordered

Jester nodded his head "Yeah, I'll catch you guys later," he called to the crew as he boarded his personal sky car. They all waved to the rookie as he rose and eventually rocketed out of sight. They waited a good minute after he disappeared from view to remove their masks.

"He seems legit," Jack remarked. Jack; real name Brady Daniels, age 23, stands at 6'1" with light brown hair that was styled in a military cut, and a full faced beard that was well maintained. Daniels, born on Earth, joined the military at the age of 18 and served for two years, earning top honors in his marksman class, before quitting after getting into a monumental fight with his dad, who is also military. After quitting the military he took his girlfriend, Kim, and moved to the Citadel to become a C-Sec officer but quit that as well after a disagreement with his boss. For another year he lived off Kim's support while working at dead end jobs. His criminal career started after Kim grew ill and needed medical attention they couldn't afford. Brady robbed a nearby clothing store and paid for the medical bill up front while Kim never question where the money came from.

"I figured he was after he gunned down the C-sec officer," Silver Skull replied. Silver Skull; real name Logan Lerman, age 24, stands at 6'3" with dark brown hair that was in a buzz cut style and clean shaved face. Lerman was born on a ship in the terminus system, which was shortly attacked by slavers. Only Logan and his mother were the ones to make it out alive. The two moved to Earth where, at the age of 16, Logan met Brady and the two became best friends. When Daniels left for the military, Lerman moved to the Citadel and became a dock worker. Shortly after arriving he met Nina, and at the age of 19 had a child with her. To help pay for the child he participated in illegal fight clubs on the side, with his natural durability earning better money than a dock worker and learning some implementable fighting techniques. When his daughter was two, his girlfriend was killed by a crooked C-Sec officer that fled the Citadel and was never caught. His criminal career started when his mom got diagnosed with a rare lung disease. He started out attacking drug trades but soon moved onto heists.

"We upping his cut, I take it?" Shumacher questioned. Shumacher; real name Stephen Dox, age 23, stands at 6' even with long curly dark brown hair and a clean shaved face as well. Dox, born on Earth, is the life long friend of Daniels. Stephen's dad was the owner of a garage and as such acquired a talent for racing. When Brady left for the military, Stephen toured the galaxy in the an intergalactic racing corporation. His racing dreams ended when his team was disbanded after funding fell through. Dox moved to the citadel and became a mechanic in hopes of reviving his bankrupt team. Those hopes were also dashed after a local gang started forcing him to pay for protection. His criminal career started when he helped Brady get away from C-Sec after robbing a store to pay for Kim's medical bills.

A male Batarian strode out of the warehouse they were parked in front of "No, everybody get's the cut they were promised at the beginning. I'll take it from here gentleman," he said and boarded the shuttle without waiting for a reply.

"Sounds good to me," Brady said and turned to his friends "Chora's Den tonight?" he offered.

Stephen chuckled as he shook his head "Sorry not tonight. I promised Sabrina a date tonight. Also I gotta stop by the garage and make sure the Twisted get their pay before they burn the shop down, again," he responded watching the delivery shuttle being loaded into the warehouse.

"When we gonna deal with those assholes?" Logan asked, he had a bad run in with the Tayseri

Twisted when he was searching for leads on the officer who killed Nina that had ended with him in the hospital for three weeks and seven of the gang dead.

"We're not," Stephen insisted "Thy have too many resources, it'd be suicidal,"

Lerman sighed in disappointment "One day, I'll take them down, with or without your help,"

"Then I wish you luck," was the reply as the Dox began walking to his skycar.

Logan nodded "Say hi to Sabrina for me,"

Stephen chuckled "You know she doesn't like you,"

"Exactly," Lerman replied with a laugh "It'll annoy her,"

After Stephen departed Brady turned to his remaining friend "So, Chora's Den tonight?"

Logan shrugged "Eh, why not? I need a drink or five after today," he said as they began to stride to their respective cars "Oh by the way, here," Logan tossed a credit chit to Brady "Give that to Kim, tell her thanks for watching Dana,"

"You got it, bro," Daniels complied.

_4 hours later_

Brady landed his skycar near the bar and noted that he was there before his friend _"Surprise surprise" _he thought as he locked his car. He was playing with his phone as he approached the bar and glanced up just in time to not walk face first into the door that didn't open. Confused he glanced over at the bar hours and saw that they should be open. As he looked around he noticed that the big lights were off as well. Pulling out his omni-tool he began hacking the door lock. After it opened he froze at the gruesome sight. Bodies laid out across the tables, floor, and one even hung from the center stage.

"Fist," he said aloud as he rushed towards the back noticing the door had been forced open. He drew his weapon as he approached the final door to Fist's office. As he reached out to the panel a loud gunshot was heard from inside, causing him to jump back. As he reached for the panel again he heard muffled shouting. As he leaned his head against the door to hear better it whooshed open and he stumbled headlong into a large being that immediately shove him roughly back onto the floor with a painful thud. Daniels groaned in pain but it died in his throat when he noticed he was staring down the barrel of three different guns.

"Another one of Fist's men," a low grumbling voice growled out and Brady realized he was at the mercy of a krogan with a shotun.

Brady tossed his pistol to the side "I'm not! I came to the bar for a drink, and obviously I couldn't get one so I came to see what was u," came his quick explanation.

"How do you know Fist?" a female voice asked, which belonged to a cute redhead who had her pistol still trained on him.

"I've done work for him in the past, but we had a small falling out. We ended our uh, 'partnership', on well enough terms that I could still drink here,"

"Do you know anything about a quarian?" the third a final person spoke up. A human male this time, short with dark hair.

Brady scrunched his face in confusion "A quarian? No? Never met one in my life,"

"You're free to go, but I don't want to catch you around here again," the redhead demanded "Come on you two, we have to find that meeting," she commanded and the three turned to leave.

"Wait!" Brady called bringing the three to a halt "A meeting? Did Fist set it up?" the redhead nodded as she regarded him with a suspicious look "I know where. He always set up meetings in the same alley behind the markets. It's secluded, makes it perfect for dirty business, I can take you there,"

She studied the man for a second before nodding "Lead on, if you double cross us, I will kill you. No arguments," she demanded as the other human opened his mouth to protest.

Daniels nodded "Alright, come on. Brady, by the way," he declared, retrieving his pistol.

"I'm, Shepard, that's Kaiden, and that's Wrex," she said curtly.

"I've heard a lot about you Shepard. Lotta respect, ma'am," he commended as they made their way through the doors.

"I'm sure that means a lot coming form a criminal," Kaiden snorted. Further discussion was cut short as gunfire forced them into cover. Not having armor or shields, Brady sunk as low as he could behind the cover and brought up his omni-tool and dialed a number.

"Come on, come on! Answer," he growled.

"What the hell are you doing!" Shepard shouted incredulously.

"Insuring you don't lose your quarian," Brady replied.

_Outside the bar_

"Closed?" Logan asked out loud to himself. His omni-tool suddenly began beeping, startling him. "Brady, the Den's clos-"

"Shut up and listen!" Brady shouted and gunfire could be heard in the background "I'm in the Den under fire right now so I don't have time to fully explain,"

Logan drew his own pistol from under his shirt "Say the word and I'll hit 'em from beh-"

"No! Go to the alley behind the wards where Fist always sets up business. There's a quarian there that's walking right into a trap, I need you to get it out of there,"

His instructions brought up a million questions but nonetheless began sprinting towards the alley "On it,"

"Might want to grab some equipment from your car, Brady out," Daniels said before killing the link.

Lerman dashed to his sky car, and pulled out his Katana from the back as well as a shield pack. The shield pack wasn't anything special, meant mostly for emergencies but it was better than nothing. As he passed through the door into the alley he could see four figures up ahead. Two salarians on lookout, a turian, and a female quarian. Logan managed to slip into cover before being noticed. As he leaned out of cover the quarian tossed a grenade at the feet of the salarians, knocking them off their feet before running for cover herself. Seizing the opportunity, Logan rushed out of cover firing his shotgun as he ran. His first shot took down one of the salarians shields and a second put him down. The second salarian recovered enough to return fire, unfortunately for the alien Logan was close enough that the shots only managed to just deplete the human's shields and at that range the shotgun made mince-meat out of the salarian's head. Without pausing Lerman sprinted at full speed towards the turian next and fired his two remaining shots in the clip that only managed to take the shields. Luckily the shots staggered the turian enough that Logan was able to execute a running double leg take down. The mercenary, however, was no stranger to cqc and was able to buck the human off and rise to his feet. As he leveled the pistol for a shot Logan grasped the turian's wrist and pushed the pistol barrel into the air and the shout flew harmlessly away. In response the turian kneed Lerman in the gut causing him to release his hold. Logan's recovery, though, is parallel by almost none and he rolled forward, tripping the mercenary and causing him to fall on his face. The human swiveled around and sprang onto the turian's back. As he wrapped is arms around the turian's neck for a choke the mercenary swung his head back to try and deliver a head but Logan utilized his head movement to avoid the blows. The natural hump in the turian's back made it difficult to lock in a rear naked choke, so Logan changed tactic and began to work on isolating an arm. When he saw an opening Lerman swung his legs over for an arm bar. While fighting for wrist control he noticed the mercenary had a blade in one of his hands and in the struggle was getting close to impaling the human. Suddenly the turian gurgled and went limp, allowing Logan full wrist control and he extended his legs as well as hips causing him to go belly down. After getting no resistance he released the limp arm and rolled to his feet to see a knife sticking out of the base of the turians neck. The quarian was staring at the blade she just stuck in him.

"Thanks," Logan panted out causing her to jump a bit and turn to stare at him "Logan Lerman," he extended his hand.

The quarian regarded his hand for a moment then shook it with her own three-fingered hand "Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya,"

/

**A/N: If the names sound familiar it's because I started over on a story I had under way. Wasn't happy with the way it was going so I completely revamped EVERYTHING :D Sorry for little mistakes it's usually pretty late at night when I write these. Review fav etc.**


	2. Chapter 2

"What were they after you for?" Logan asked the shook up quarian. Tali and the human had made their way back to his car and now were waiting for Brady and his new acquaintances to arrive.

"Fist set me up!" she replied angrily, hysteria from nearly being killed plain in her voice "I knew I couldn't trust him,"

Lerman nodded as he knew all too well the double dealings Fist liked to pull "He's a piece of shit, that's for sure but what were they after?" he repeated.

"I think they were after a sound file I acquired from a geth," she admitted.

"Killing you for a bit of audio is a little extreme?" Logan said incredulously .

"Not when it could incriminate a spectre," Tali declared causing the human to stare in disbelief.

"Please, please, PLEASE, tell me it'll fuck over Saren," Logan said with such intensity that it started to scare the quarian.

"Well yes...but the council won't even see me, C-Sec threatened to lock me up for vagrancy ," she replied, sounding helpless.

"I think I can help with that," another female voice cut in. Both Tali and Logan pivoted to see a redheaded human at the head of a squad. Three humans and a krogan crowded the narrow walkway that led to the Chora's Den. Tali's heart began to race as she anticipated another fight and slowly edged over to stand behind Logan.

Lerman peeked over his shoulder with a chuckle "It's alright, they aren't going to hurt you, I think. Who're friends, B?" he called to his longtime friend.

The human in question stepped forward "That, Mr. Lerman, is THE Commander Shepard," he replied sweeping his arm wide as if to present the commander.

Logan looked from Brady, to the commander, and back to his friend "Am I supposed to know who that is?" he asked, clearly unimpressed.

Brady glared at his companion in disbelief "Don't tell you've never heard of her! She single-handedly stopped Elysium falling to Batarians,"

"Doesn't ring a bell," Logan shrugged "but that can wait until later. Shepard, eh, I mean commander, what do you suggest we do about her?" he asked indicating with his head towards Tali who had remained hidden behind her human shield.

"If she stays with us, she'll be safe until we can get a meeting with the council set up," Shepard offered.

Kaidan spoke up for the first time "How about the human embassy? The ambassador will want to see this anyway,"

The commander nodded "Good call, Lieutenant. You two are welcome to come as well, seeing as you've done your fair share to help us,"

Logan and Brady shared a look for a moment before the former shrugged "Since getting a drink is out of the question, I can't think of a reason why not,"

Shepard gave him a small smirk "I'm not famous enough for you?" she offered causing both the boys to laugh.

"Come on we can take our cars," Brady suggested as turned to his vehicle. Suddenly the door to the alley whooshed open and a squad of mercenaries filed out

"There's the quarian, get her!" one shouted. On instinct Shepard grabbed the nearest person to her, Logan, and dove over the hood of the skycar into cover. The rest of the squad followed suit with Wrex immediate returning fire.

Logan shifted to a seated position as bullets riddled his vehicle, and unfolded his shotgun "Just fucking perfect!" he roared, his face already red in fury "I finally get the damn thing paid off, and this shit happens!"

Ignoring the seething man Shepard called to her Lieutenant "Alenko, what's the count?"

"Ten, commander," Kaidan shouted back over the gunfire. The door to the markets opened next and more mercenaries poured out "Make that seventeen!"

The mercs opted to stay out in the open and with numbers greatly on their side, there wasn't much in the way of returned fire. Wrex stood and attacked with a biotic throw, taking down two of the opposition. The krogan stayed in the pocket letting shots from his Scimitar fly as he got peppered and just as his shields were about to go down they suddenly recharged to full strength. Crouched next to him Tali worked furiously on her omni-tool to keep Wrex's shields up. Noticing the assistance from his quarian ally, Wrex laughed and continued to stand in the open and attack with biotics and bullets alike. The majority of the gunfire shifted to the krogan, allowing the rest to start picking off the opposition. Even with the mass of the gunfire altered, Logan and Brady were extra cautious and picked their spots wisely to return fire, not having armor and very weak shields.

Shepard took out a merc with a burst from her vindicator before activating her omni-tool "Wiliams, Vakarian, I need you two at my location on the double! We're under fire and need backup now,"

"Roger, commander, on the way. Eta four minutes," came the reply from the female Gunnery Chief. As she stood back up to help in the fight she spotted more mercenaries coming out of both the markets and the alley. She turned to the two human newcomers to issue orders when she saw that Brady was on his omni-tool again.

"Got another ace up your sleeve, Daniels?" she asked as he deactivated the tool and blind fired with his pistol.

"You could say that, ma'am. Just calling in a little air support," Brady replied "Though I'd feel a little better if I had something other than a damn pistol,"

Kaidan lifted three mercs off their feet with biotics as he replied "What do you think I'm using?"

"You have armor, military grade shields, and biotics. I've got nothing!" he shot back.

As Logan reloaded a round pinged off the car where the engine was located, and immediately started leaking fluid "Fuck you!" he shouted as he stood and fired once "I blame you, Brady!"

Daniels shot him an exasperated look "The hell did I do?" he asked indignantly.

"It was your idea to act the good samaritan today, and now look at my fucking car! Insurance sure as hell wont cover this!" Logan vented and grunted in exertion as he full force punched the door of his car.

"What she has is more important than your shitty car!" Brady shouted back as he indicated the quarian.

Tali looked back and forth at the bickering humans in disbelief "Is now really the time to argue about this?"

That only resulted in turning Logan's negative attention towards her "The way this damn fight is going, it might be the only time!" he shouted at her causing her to flinch and shrink down "The only positive is that when I fucking die I won't have to deal with this shit! Any more questions?"

Brady scooted in between the two to defend Tali "Hey, leave her alone, you dick! She's right, this isn't the time," he reprimanded.

"Oh, fuck you! What are you, her mother? She doesn't need your ass sticking up for her!" he continued.

"Both of you, shut up!" shouted the commander "We aren't going to die here. Follow my orders and we'll make it out. Lerman, sorry about the car, but that isn't important right now. We need to get Tali evacuated at all costs. The data she has could help save human lives from further attacks,"

"I'm with you, commander" Brady declared "What do you need us to do?"

"Once your air support gets here, I want you to take Tali and get her to the embassy. I'll alert my contact, you will have clearance. Stay with her at all times, even after you've reached the embassy, we don't know how deep the Shadow Broker's influence goes. Got it?" Brady nodded and she turned to the other "Logan?"

His anger was clearly not subsided and he exhaled forcefully out of his nose "Yes, Shepard," he acknowledged.

"Good. Don't worry about us, once our backup gets here we'll be able to hold out until C-Sec arrives," she assured the two, though she doubted they were too concerned.

A sudden shout from Wrex caused the four to fully snap their attention back to the battle "Shuttle incoming,"

Brady recognized the craft's pilot immediately "Hold your fire! That's our boy,"

Stephen maneuvered the craft as close as he could to the suppressed squad and activated the door controls and they slid open "Come on! Get in, I can't hold here for long!" he shouted through the loudspeaker.

"Covering fire on my mark!" Shepard ordered "Ready! Mark!"

The team stood and let fly a relentless barrage of bullets causing the mercenaries to finally scramble for cover. With the opposition reduced for the time being, Brady grabbed Tali and half dragged, half pushed her towards the waiting shuttle while using his body as a shield for the quarian. Logan was right on their heels, still firing his shotgun at a few mercs who had noticed their escape attempt.

Logan sprinted the last few yards and dove head long into the shuttle "We're in, get us outta here!" he shouted to the driver.

"Hang on!" Dox shouted as he maneuvered the shuttle away from the battle while shutting the doors "I don't even want to know what the hell that was about, but both of you owe us an expensive dinner," he said and the two humans realized Sabrina was seated in the co-pilot seat.

"Get us to the embassy, and I'll buy you a whole damn restaurant," Brady replied.

"I'll hold you to that," Stephen declared when suddenly an alarm sounded in the cabin "Two gunships on our tail," he informed them.

Logan threw his arms out in exasperation "We have a pistol and two shotguns, the fuck do you want us to do about it?" he asked.

Stephen turned in his seat and pointed to two crates secured in the back "Open those, the equipment in there should deal with them," he replied.

Logan and Brady moved to obey the command, the former shouting in alarm at the contents, while the latter let out an impressed whistle. Lerman's crate contained an M-100 grenade launcher while Daniels' held an M-76 Revenant light machine gun.

Brady hefted the Revenant and loaded a clip "Where'd you get these?" he asked.

"Left overs from the Blackwatch raid, remember?" the pilot answered. Logan and Brady froze in place and shot Stephen a _'shut the hell up' _look to the back of his head. Apparently Dox realized he said that out loud in front of his girlfriend and a stranger as he slapped a hand over his mouth "Opening doors," he said after a few quite moments. The inside of the cabin was flooded with the sound of wind rushing past as the doors slid open. Logan loaded up his grenade launcher, leaned out starboard side, and took aim, though the shuttle swerving to avoid gunfire made it increasingly difficult. On the port side, Brady opened fire with his lmg. His bullets were highly visible as they flew through the air, making it easy for him to adjust his aim.

A sudden sharp turn caused Brady to nearly topple out of the craft "Easy!" he shouted back at the pilot.

"Hang on, I'm in oncoming traffic," Dox replied.

Lerman fired two shots from the M-100 and both shots flew too low "Dammit! Try and keep it steady for a second," he yelled.

"A second will get us killed," Stephen shot him down "Pay attention to my pattern and pick your shots,"

"Sure, when we're robbing a bank, C-Sec is right up our asses. But a fire fight in the sky and not a damn blue boy to be seen," Brady grumbled to himself as he reloaded, his hands partly numb from the vibrations of the gun. He was soon back to the task of bringing down a gunship.

"Come on, guys, this thing can't take much more punishment," the pilot cried as the sound of bullets impacting the hull could be heard.

A sudden explosion drowned out the wind noise "Haha! One down," Logan laughed as he gave the finger to the falling debris "Take that you fuckers!"

Stephen shared the laugh before calling to the other "Alright, Brady. All you, bro!"

Brady ignored the comment as he he pinned the trigger, his face contorted in concentration. A bullet from the Revenant struck the starboard engine of the gunship, causing it to wobble mid-air. The pilot was struggling to regain control when Stephen veered hard to the right and the gunship crashed headlong into an enormous cargo freighter, causing it to explode instantly, which did little to slow the freighter down.

"Whoa!" Brady shouted in surprise "The other is down. We're in the clear, get us to the embassy Stephen,"

_Human embassy, ten minutes later_

Anderson and Udina met the shuttle as it landed at the small emergency dock just down the way from the offices. The shuttle was smoking heavily and the engine was sputtering while spitting fluids. As soon as the doors opened it lost power and crashed the last few feet, causing the three standing passengers to be thrown off their feet.

"You alright?" Anderson asked the crew as he climbed aboard and assisted Tali to her feet.

"I'm fine," the quarian responded, taken back by the human's concern "Who are you?" she inquired as the two stepped from the wreckage.

"Captain David Anderson, friend and CO to Commander Shepard," he responded holding out his hand for the quarian to shake, which she tentatively did.

Next the humans clambered out, lead by Logan "Logan Lerman," he said to the captain "That's Brady Daniels, Stephen Dox, and the lovely lady is Sabrina Seitz,"

After he had shaken each of their respective hands Anderson turned back to Logan "I appreciate you helping out the commander. I heard about your car, and I think you will be pleased to hear that the alliance be replacing it for you,"

Logan couldn't help but grin at the news "That's the best thing I've hard all day. Thank you, sir,"

While the two were talking Brady turned to his childhood friend "I owe you big time for this, bud, but you better jet," he said, giving the pilot a hug "Lie low for a while, I'm sure those agents tagged your shuttle,"

"Don't worry about that, it's stolen," Stephen stated nonchalantly. Behind him Logan was staring in shock at the curly haired man, for that was the second time in the day he blurted out an incriminating secret. Thankfully both Udina and Anderson were so preoccupied with the quarian, that they missed Stephen's comment.

Logan stepped forward and hugged Dox as well "Thanks a lot, man," he said, then glanced at Sabrina and lowered his voice "Sorry about ruining your date as well, is there anything I can do to make up for it?"

"Well, a brand new X3M would ease my pain," Stephen joked.

Logan laughed aloud before replying "Once the credits from our latest job comes in, it's all yours,"

"I was just kidding but if you're serious, I'll take it," he said "Alright we better go, be safe, guys,"

"Take care, brother," Logan replied as Brady waved. The two then turned their attention back to the other three to discover the ambassador all but interrogating the poor quarian.

"So you just happened to kill a geth that was on Eden Prim with Saren? You really expect me to believe that?" Udina snarled, clearly not fond of the alien.

"N-no, the geth likely wasn't on Eden Prime, but-" Tali began.

"Then how does it have a recording of Saren?" the ambassador interrupted.

Logan scowled and stepped up to Udina "Shut the fuck up for a second and she'll explain. She is a quarian, if you haven't noticed, she knows more about them than you or me," he spat.

"Watch your mouth, or I'll have kicked out. You're here by my permission, abuse that privilege and you'll be escorted down to C-Sec," Udina threatened.

Anderson stepped forward to put a restraining hand on Logan's shoulder "Calm down, son, it's not worth getting kicked out. Udina, maybe we could continue the questioning in a more civilized manner. Miss Zorah here an ally, not a prisoner,"

Udina sighed "Fine, miss Zorah how-"

"Maybe we should wait until Shepard gets here," Brady purposefully interrupted with a smirk.  
"He's right, why don't we head back to the office and wait there. These three need some rest and refreshments anyway," Anderson agreed before the ambassador could turn his wrath on Daniels. Udina shot Brady a hard stare before turning and leading the way without a word. Back at the offices Tali sat in between Logan and Brady on a large comfortable couch, the two humans drinking and eating the expensive food that was brought to them with a ravenous appetite. Tali was slurping on a nutrient paste tube as she watched the two older humans bickering out on the balcony. Surprisingly, Udina was keeping his voice low enough that they couldn't hear them .

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Udina steal a glance at her "What do you think they're talking about?" she asked becoming increasingly nervous.

Logan paused from his meal long enough to survey the two men "Who knows? All I know is once Shepard gets here, I'm gone," he declared.

That statement caused Brady to pause from his meal as well "What? You heard what Tali said. This evidence could put Saren out of the spectres. Once that heppens who do you think will be tasked with bringing him in? If there's a chance, I want to be apart of that team," he said.

"If you want to run off and pretend to be a hero, be my guest," Logan replied while returning to his food.

Brady gave his partner an annoyed look "Come on man. It wouldn't be the same without you," he begged.

"Then don't go," Logan said simply.

Brady dropped his sandwich on the plate with a thud and turned fully in his seat to face him "So this is the life you want to lead. We have chance to leave that shit behind, do something worth doing, and you want to throw it away,"

"Yeah. Our life right now may not be perfect, but it's worked well so far," Logan replied, abandoning his grub as well.

"Oh yeah, it's worked so fucking well. Calvin's dead, and Jake's in the slammer, our lives are going so great right now," Brady snarled sarcastically.

"And you think going off on a military ship to fight the fucking geth and a rogue spectre is the answer? Huh? We barely held up against damn mercenaries but let's go fight synthetics that have nearly wiped out the quarians! Yeah that's the answer to our fucked up way of life," Logan replied his anger quickly rising. Tali sank low on the couch, hating the awkward position of being in between two arguing humans.

Brady noticed how uncomfortable she was getting and paused to take a few calming deep breaths "Let's just give it a chance, okay? You might be surprised," he tried reasoning.

"I have a fucking daughter. You want to go off and risk my life while she stays here?" Logan asked in exasperation.

"How's the risk any different than what you do now? You die out there, you'll be called a hero. Die here on a job gone wrong and you'll be shamed by the media. Which would you rather have your daughter face?" Brady responded in a dead calm voice.

Logan didn't answer right away and instead stared at the table intently "What about you Tali? Once you present the evidence, where do you plan on going?" he asked.

"I'll offer my services to Shepard, but if she refuses...I don't know. Find a way to complete my pilgrimage would be all that I could do," she answered her mood growing somber as she hadn't entertained the thought that the commander might not want a quarian in her squad.

Brady suddenly grinned "You see?" he said, throwing an arm around Tali "You'd have us!"

Logan shot his friend an annoyed look "We only met her an hour ago,"

That statement did little to deter Daniels and he swept his had back and forth indicating the three of them "And we're already the best of friends!"

"If you three are done with your little tea party, I have some questions for you two," the three looked up to see that Udina and Anderson had moved back into the room and were standing on the other side of the table, the former pointing to the two humans.

"Shoot," Brady replied.

"We overhead you mention past jobs, what type of work are you two into? Freelance?" Anderson asked

The two young men shared a look before Logan responded "You could say that, we've had many, uh 'jobs', but I'm warning you now, we weren't good guys," he admitted.

"While we were discussing your...involvement in the firefight down in the wards, I had your records pulled. Let's take a look shall we?" Udina all but growled as he accepted two data pads from an asari the seated trio hadn't noticed before "Let's start with you, loudmouth," the ambassador sneered at Logan who just shrugged.

"Go ahead, you won't like what you find," Logan replied.

"Logan Lerman, born November 13th 2154 on the _Venture _to Glinda Lerman. No mention of a father" he paused as he scrolled through the data "Age 13, sent to a juvenile detention center for assault on a class mate,"

"Howie Brenton. Tried to steal my lunch money," Logan recalled with a small smile and mimicked a punching combination in mid air "Broke his jaw and right orbital bone. Probably was for the best though as the the tubby bastard lost weight after that,"

"Moving on. Age 17 arrested and tried as an adult for grand theft auto," Udina continued "Somehow you got off free,"

"Red Snake two thirty five. Classic, nearly topped the speed when I got caught," Logan chuckled "Amazing what you can get away with if you plead mental disorder,"

"Age 22, aggravated assault charges dropped," the ambassador read before setting the data pad down.

"Not much sympathy is shown these days for a old turian pedophile. I have a bit of a problem with the term 'aggravated assault', though," he stated "It kinda understates how much I fucked him up for touching my three year old daughter. I don't think he was ever able to speak clearly again and I was informed later that he would walk the rest of his life with a limp," Logan bragged.

"You think this is amusing? I find none of this to be funny," Udina snarled "Those were all lives you ruined and you're laughing like this all a joke!"

Logan jumped up from the couch causing Udina to stagger back in alarm and Anderson to take a step forward, ready to restrain the young man "I don't find someone molesting my daughter to be very funny either but you brought up the fucking incident as if I was in the wrong! I beat that piece a shit nearly to death. I would have killed him if a passerby hadn't stopped me. I don't need a fucking politician lecturing me on the mistakes I've made in my life, especially not your dumb ass!"

"Lower your voice right now or I'll have C-Sec escort you from the premises!" Udina ordered.

"Fuck you! I'll leave with or without your say," Logan shouted as he put the bird in Udina's face and made his way towards the door. Suddenly it opened and Logan walked smack dab into someone. He felt a pair of three fingered hands clasp his shoulders to steady itself.

"Whoa, watch it," it said in a friendly tone. The voice sounded strangely familiar to him and when he looked up his blood froze in his veins. The being he just plowed into was a turian. The turian C-Sec officer he knocked out cold that morning outside the omni-tool market.

"You must be one of the guys that helped out Shepard. I'm Garrus Vakarian," he said as he extended his three talon-ed hand.

**/**

**A/N: Uh oh! Anyway I forgot to mention before that, if you couldn't already tell, my three main OCs (Logan, Brady, and Stephen) are inspired by the three main GTAV protagonists. Once again I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors (if it gets bad enough that you can't understand what I'm trying to say let me know and I'll fix it) Look forward to getting feedback (as it, like many authors, encourages me to write faster)**


	3. Chapter 3

Garrus regarded Logan for a few minutes before withdrawing his hand in confusion "I thought all humans abide by that custom?" he asked over his shoulder to Shepard.

Snapping out of his state of slight panic Logan cleared his throat "I apologize, I'm not in a hand shaking mood at the moment," he replied.

At the sound of the human's voice Garrus subconsciously rubbed his left mandible "Your voice sounds familiar. Have we met?" he asked staring into the human's eyes.

Lerman's blood froze again at that "Um, not that I recall," he answered as he tried to edge past "I'm sorry but I was just leaving,"

As the squad piled in Logan saw Brady giving him a 'Don't leave' look but Logan just shrugged as the doors shut. Brady gave the squad a once over while they greeted the two older men and discovered many cuts and burns to their armor and skin alike.

"I was asking him about his file when he stormed out," Udina said to Shepard.

Everyone in the room turned to Brady at his snort "That wasn't 'asking questions', that was blatant interrogation. Too bad for you, Logan is easily intimidated," he spat at the ambassador.

Udina's face turned to a shade of red "He was the one that ran away, but now that you've said something, why don't we go over yours?"

Anderson stepped forward and took the datapad from the ambassador's hands "This isn't the time. We were waiting for Shepard to arrive so we could view Miss Zorah's evidence," he said.

"Fine," Udina retorted "Quarian-"

"Tali," Brady corrected "Or Miss Zorah. She isn't calling you 'human',"

The ambassador took a deep breath before continuing "Miss Zorah, what do you have for us?"

_Down in the wards_

Logan strode through the markets, his body on autopilot as his mind was a storm of thoughts. The opportunity to join the Normandy and Garrus being the two prominent dilemmas. For a minute he snapped out of his meanderings and noticed his body was taking him towards the Chora's Den. Sighing out loud to himself he pivoted to go back the way he came and as he did so he noticed a turian and salarian step to the side to let him pass. Logan looked between the two before taking a few cautious steps forward, his instincts screaming at him. As he stepped by the two aliens he raised the pace of his stride. As he passed a store he glanced to the reflection and saw the pair were following him, with the salarian holding his omni-tool up to his head. Logan continued on with a calm demeanor, his destination now the embassy. Up ahead he saw a pair of turians loitering at a market stand and as he drew near he spotted one giving a slight nod and could see he was looking past the human. Thinking fast, Logan took a sudden right turn down another street. The street ahead came to a fork with a single left or right choice. Lerman took a left and glanced into the reflection of another store window to discover that all four were following, the salarian still on his omni-tool. The group walked for another minute before Logan smiled to himself as he spotted a C-Sec agent. An asari, stationed outside an omni-tool market, hadn't noticed the odd group yet and Logan began planning.

Taking a deep breath he suddenly spun to face his stalkers "Can I help you, gentlemen?" he asked in a feigned polite voice.

One of the turians pulled a pistol off his belt but refrained from pointing at the human "Our boss wants to speak to you," the salarian responded. Even though the salarian's arm was held down to his side, the alien's omni-tool was still active.

Logan reached around his back to the shotgun but didn't unfold it quite yet "About what?" he replied dropping the polite demeanor.

One of the turians palmed his own pistol "This doesn't have to be hard. He just has some questions about a quarian," he said.

"And whose your boss?" Logan asked.

"We cannot tell you that," the salarian answered "Come with us and you won't be harmed,"

Out of the corner of his eye, Logan spotted a turian slowly reaching out, with his omni-tool active. Suddenly the human swung his shotgun as hard as could, catching the offending turian just above the mandible. Without pausing he ducked down, just in time as a round flew above his head, and swung up with the shotgun, catching the armed turian on the chin. Logan then spun on his heel and took off towards a market stand for cover. Just before he reached the stand, however, he felt something impact his leg and immediately dropped as electricity coursed through his body. After the juiced stopped flowing he rolled to his back to see the salarian walking briskly towards him with his omni-tool held out in front of him. Before the salarian could launch another attack, he was thrown off his feet my a biotic attack.

"Citadel Security! Weapons on the ground," the asari officer ordered with her assault rifle swiveling back and forth between the only conscious turian, floored salarian, and the human. Suddenly a shuttle appeared from around the tall building, and when the doors opened a squad of mixed species leaped out. With the asari's attention focused on the squad, Logan shuffled to his feet and sprinted the short distance to the officer and tackled her behind the stand. Not long after, bullets began to riddle their cover.

"Fucking hell! This day just keep getting worse and worse," Logan groaned to his cover buddy.

The asari ignored him and activated her omni-tool top call in backup. The human popped out of cover and fired a shot from his gun, but was forced back in cover.

"Shit! This ain't gonna be easy," Logan shouted to his partner "How long 'til your boys get here?"

"Eta three minutes," she responded "What the hell have I walked into anyway?"

The pair swung around the side of the stand to return fire and succeeded in taking down two turians. The asari focused her biotics into a singularity, taking a human and two salarian off their feet. Logan's shotgun made quick work of the suspended foes.

"If I knew I'd tell you," Logan lied "Trying to kidnap me apparently,"

After Lerman reloaded, he took over firing to allow the officer to reload. His shields didn't last long, though, and was forced back down. The asari stood back up and began firing when suddenly a high velocity round took her in the mid section.

"Sniper!" Logan shouted before realizing it was futile, as the only other ally around was the asari who just took a bullet "You still with me?" he asked as he crawled over to the wounded officer.

The asari gasped in pain as the human rolled her over "Dammit, how bad is it?" she asked.

"I'm no doctor, but it doesn't look good," Logan admitted "We can't stay here. You think you can walk?"

"No," she said quickly "Not by myself,"

Logan returned fire for a moment to keep the opposition form gaining ground, then returned to the wounded asari. The human grabbed her arm and placed it over his neck and pulled her to her feet. Looking around he spotted an alleyway a few yards away. Switching his shotgun out for his pistol, Logan let fly a barrage of bullets to force the squad into cover, then took off towards the alley. Just as they reached the alley a round impacted the wall directly in front on Logan's head causing him to flinch. The wounded asari made going slow, and as they rounded another corner, bullets struck the corner they just turned.

A sudden shout of pain from the officer caused Logan to look over at her "Hold on we're gonna make it. What's your name" he tried assuring her.

"I'm not going to make it," she replied through a groan "Goddess, this hurts,"

"Don't talk like that! We're going to fucking make it, what's your name?" Logan repeated a little too harshly.

"Alana," the officer said weakly.

Soon they broke out onto the street and Logan began looking around for a more dependable position. They didn't get far before the squad tore from the alley behind them. Suddenly gunfire erupted from above them, cutting down the mercenaries. Logan glanced up at the three C-Sec shuttles with their doors open and officers leaning out gunning down the resistance. With their enemies either dead or retreating, Logan gently set Alana down on the ground and began applying medi-gel and pressure to the wound. Nearby a shuttle landed and a squad of C-Sec officers filed out. To show he wasn't a threat, Logan tossed his pistol to the side as a few officers took over attending to the wounded, but that still didn't stop a human officer throwing him to the ground.

"Don't move!" he shouted at Lerman as he cuffed him.

Logan didn't resist as his attention was on the wounded asari being loaded onto a stretcher "Is she going to be okay?" he inquired as he was hauled roughly to his feet and felt the officer removing his shotgun.

"Ease off on him, Sternes," another asari agent warned the human officer "The scans indicate the bullet missed anything vital, but she's lost a substantial amount of blood. We have to take you in for questioning, sorry,"

"I understand," Logan replied, his heart racing as he was not looking forward to being interrogated, especially since just that morning Logan had robbed a major omni-tool market "Do I at least get my phone call?"

_At the base of the Citadel Tower._

"First human spectre? I-I don't know what to say, that's awesome," Brady complimented Shepard.

"Thanks, Daniels, but I haven't done anything yet," She said with a slight blush.

Before anyone else could speak Brady's omni-tool sounded out and he immediately answered it. While he was talking the rest of the squad took the opportunity to congratulate the commander. The two alliance soldiers especially had kind words for the young woman. The cheerful demeanor, however, was brought to an abrupt halt by an announcement from Daniels.

"Logan's sitting in a C-Sec cell right now," he declared "It's been great but I gotta go bail him out,"

"What's he in for?" Garrus asked.

"He said he got into another fire fight down in the wards," Brady responded " This time though a C-Sec officer was involved and she got injured,"

Shepard thought for a moment as the young man turned to call a transport "I'll come with you," she said to the surprise of everyone "Logan and Brady played a very significant role in acquiring the evidence that got me here, I owe it to him to at least hear him out,"

"Whatever you say, Shepard, we're with you," Kaidan replied.

"Brady and I will go speak with Lerman, the rest of you meet us at the Normandy," she ordered, surprising everyone again. When she turned back to Daniels, she saw he had cab waiting. She climbed in, nodded at her crew, and closed the door so they could get on their way.

"So... what's your story, Daniels?" Shepard asked to break the silence.

"I don't think a ten minute cab ride is long enough to cover my story," Brady replied with a chuckle.

The commander shrugged "Fair enough, what do you do for a living then?"

Daniels swallowed and stayed silent for a few moments before answering "Basically I'm a mercenary," he said, hating that he had to lie to his hero "Used to be military, if that wasn't obvious,"

"Why'd you leave the alliance?" she pressed "You handled yourself rather well in a fight, we need people like you,"

Brady sighed "Disagreement with my commanding officer,"

"An argument with your CO doesn't seem like much of reason to quit," Shepard declared.

"Let's just say I got into quite a few arguments with my CO," he admitted "Enough that my whole unit hated me,"

"How did you come to work for Fist?" she suddenly asked, throwing him off slightly.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" he asked, and after she nodded he continued "I have a girlfriend, Kim," he explained while pulling up a picture on his omni-tool. Shepard leaned in to study it and saw a cute little blonde with bright blue eyes.

"She's pretty," Shepard said and she really meant it.

Brady chuckled "Thanks. Anyway, she works at the Citadel transit station so she deals with a lot of people coming in and leaving. She picked up a virus from some salarians and became so sick that she couldn't even move on her own. The treatment was incredibly expensive, more than we could afford," he explained while Shepard gave him a sympathetic look "I got desperate. I grabbed my pistol, threw on an old breather helmet, and robbed the garment shop down the street from my apartment,"

The admittance shocked the commander into silence for a minute "And Fist found out?" she finally asked.  
"In a way. Apparently he had investment in the store and sent some agents to investigate. Somehow the trail led to me and I told them a local gang did it but threatened me into silence. The agents forced me to lead them to the gang. I was involuntary thrown into the middle of a firefight. I must have impressed one of Fist's peoples because he contacted me personally and promised me good pay,"

"How was the pay?" Shepard asked, trying not to judge the man too harshly as she hadn't been the model citizen in her younger years either.

"VERY good," he replied "Enough that I was able to get Kim and I out of debt,"

"And what did Kim think of you working for a crime lord?" She pressed on.

"Hated every bit of it. She was always scared that when I walked out the door that would be the last time she saw me. It about tore us apart," he recalled "Thankfully my partnership with Fist didn't last long enough to clash with you,"

"What was the cause of your falling out?"

"He tried ripping Logan off, and I've been friends with Logan longer than I had been working for Fist," he said "Luckily we were able to salvage the situation well enough that we could reside peacefully with each other. We're here,"

Shepard had more questions for him but decided she could wait until she had both humans alone. They checked in with the receptionist and strolled through the crowded halls. As they neared the holding cells the sounds of commotion reached their ears. As they rounded the corner a group of C-Sec officers were crowded around a cell.

"Let him go, sir!" a turian officer agent was shouting through an opened cell door, with his omni-tool active.

The two humans dashed forward and peered around the group and what they saw made Brady bring a hand up to slap his forehead.

"You gonna lay your hands on me again? Huh? You four-eyed fuck!" Logan screamed at a gurgling batarian. The human was lying on his back, with a rear naked choke applied to the alien.

"Last warning, let him go!" the officer shouted.

Brady stepped forward "Logan!" he roared "Knock that shit off!"

Hearing his friends shout, Lerman released the alien, who rolled over to his stomach and began gulping down air in hoarse gasps. The turian and a salarian stepped in and roughly dragged Logan out into the hall, but before they got very far Shepard placed a hand on the turian's shoulder.

"I need to speak with him," she said and the turian looked her up and down for a second.

"You're Shepard, aren't you?" he asked and, at her nod, released the human and signaled to the salarian to do the same "You've got five minutes,"

"Thank you," she replied and waited until they escorted the batarian away to speak "So, what landed you here?"

"Got into a fight with some mercs. Same ones that were attacking us outside the Den. I had a C-Sec officer helping me and she got injured. Understandably they wanted to question me,"

"What was going on in there?" Brady asked, indicating the cell with a nod of his head.

"He started talking shit to me as soon as I was placed in the cell," Logan said with a chuckle and a shrug "I started talking back and he got angry. We got in each others faces and he grabbed me by the neck. I don't like being grabbed by the neck,"

"I don't know if you've heard but I've been tasked to bring in Saren," Shepard said "I'd like to have you and Brady on my team but you will have to keep your temper in check and follow my orders without question,"

Logan sighed "What if I don't want to be on the team?" he asked as he crossed his arms.

Brady spoke up to answer for her "Then you can stay here and face C-Sec interrogation,"

Logan stayed silent for a second as he looked back and forth at Brady and Shepard "When do we leave?"

_Inside the Normandy_

"Can you believe it? The Normandy!" Brady exclaimed as they stepped through. They began the slow walk down the lane with the former marine examining everything.

Next to him, Logan chuckled as he shook his head at his friend's antics, reminding him very much of his daughter on her first Earth visit. At that thought Logan stopped dead in his tracks as he realized he hadn't visited his daughter in a couple days.

It took Brady a few moments to realize he was talking to thin air, and when he did he turned to find his friend standing back near the airlock with a disturbed look on his face.

"What's wrong, bro?" he asked.

"I haven't seen or even called Dana since before yesterday," Logan admitted.

"Well once we get settled in we can ask Shepard," Brady suggested earning a nod of agreement from his friend. The two continued on towards the back where they met up with a young woman with dark hair tied in a bun.

"You must be the newbie," she said to Logan "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams,"

Logan shook the proffered hand "Logan Lerman and a little less of the 'newbie',"

"Shepard told me to show you around. So if you'll follow me, I'll take show you where to keep your firearms and armor," Ashley then looked them up and down "You don't have armor do you?"

Brady and Logan shared a look before shaking their heads no, causing the gunnery chief to sigh "Alright then we'll see what the requisitions officers' got,"

The two walked down the back stairs and past the elevator "There's the med-bay and you better hope this is the closest you'll get to it. Down there are the sleeper pods. That's the CO's private quarters,"

"I wouldn't mind getting close to that," Logan joked, elbowing Brady who chuckled.

Ashley just rolled her eyes "And that's the mess hall. Now to the elevator,"

The trio boarded the elevator and began the slow descent "Nice to see military ships keep with the common 'slow elevator' policy, like the Citadel," Brady joked. When they stepped off they entered a giant room with a military tank in one area, and lockers on the opposite side.

"This is the hangar. Back through those doors is engineering," she explaining "That's our standard **M****35 Mako** tank," the trio walked over to get a closer look at the vehicle

"Who gets to drive it?" Logan asked.

"Only Shepard and Lt Alenko have certification to operate the Mako," Ashley replied "I didn't have the patience to go through with the training,"

Before she could continue the tour the overhead comm activated "This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders; find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you, crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. It's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of galaxy! Time to show them what humans are made of! Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all... we will stop him!"

The ship was filled wit the roars of the military crew, with Brady joining in. Logan stood in silence, nodding his approval of the speech.

"She really knows how to motivate" Ashley said after the noise died down "Over here is the weapons locker,"

_Half an hour later_

Shepard was on her rounds, talking to her crew. Early on she learned from Anderson that taking the time to talk to each individual member of the crew went a long way in earning their trust. It was very time consuming, however, but she figured having everyone on the trip trusting her was worth it. Especially the aliens of the team. She had just finished talking to Kaidan and was on her way to the elevator, which opened before Shepard could call it.

"Oh, Shepard, I was just coming to see you," Logan, who stepped off the elevator, said in an anxious.

"About what?" Shepard asked, a slight concern twinged in the back of her head. She sincerely hoped he wasn't already facing problems from any of the crew.

"I was wondering if I could use the ship's comm room?" he inquired.

Shepard narrowed her eyes "For what?" she pressed.

"I've been... busy the past few days. I didn't realize it before we left but I haven't checked on my daughter in about three days," he admitted, feeling ashamed.

"Daughter? You have a daughter?" Shepard was surprised, she hadn't entertained the thought that the young man may have had kids.

"Yeah," he said then frowned "I just want to talk to her for a few minutes, let her know I'm still alive,"

Shepard thought for a minute "I'll let you call her, but under the supervision of Lt Alenko,"

Logan nodded "Fine by me," he replied, his mood improving instantly "Thanks, Shepard,"

Logan waited while Shepard explained to Kaidan the situation and soon they were on their way to the comm room. Inside he realized it also served as a meeting room with seating for six. Alenko activated the comms and Logan entered the number.

After a few moments a live video feed of Kim appeared on the wall "Logan? Where are you?"

"Too long to explain, Brady can send you details. Is Dana around?" he asked.

Kim nodded then turned and looked to an area off screen "Dana, sweetie. Someone wants to talk to you,"

A few moments passed before finally a little girl with light red hair and multiple freckles appeared "Daddy!" she shouted, her face exploding in to a massive grin.

"Hi, honey," Logan responded, smiling himself "You being good for Kim?"

"Yeah," she answered and then launched into a million questions.

_Down in the hangar, 10 minutes later_

Garrus shut off his omni-tool in aggravation, as he had just finished a long argument by text with his father. Not surprisingly, his dad wasn't fond of Garrus running off and joining a spectre. The young turian tried to take his mind off the matter by working but was beginning to take out his frustration on the Mako. He ended up slamming his tools down and turned to go focus on cleaning his weapons.

"What's got your panties in a wad, Vakarian?" a voice said, causing Garrus to glance up and see Brady leaning against the tank.

The turian about questioned the human term but decided against it "What's it to you?"

"I'm just trying to be friendly. We're going to working together for a while, wouldn't hurt to get to know one another," Brady answered.

"My father isn't happy with my choice to join a human ship," Garrus admitted "Nothing against you but he was around during our specie's conflict. Add onto that he doesn't like spectres, my career choice isn't what he had in mind for his only son,"

"Sounds shitty" Brady declared as the elevator opened and Logan stepped out. He looked around before his friend waved him over "You an only child, Garrus?"

"No, I've got a little sister," he answered.

"Sister?" Logan inquired, feigning interest "Hope she's better looking than you. What are you guys talking about?"

Garrus regarded the human with a suspicious "Why do you care?"

Logan shrugged "I don't, honestly, but I need some way to pass the time," he admitted.

"I was just telling Brady about my dad's disappointment in my choice line of work,"

"Aw, daddy not impressed with his son?" Logan teased.

Garrus took offense and scowled "I don't care if he likes what I'm doing. I just wished he'd let it be. I know what I'm doing,"

"Oh boo-hoo, your dad's concerned about his only son, poor you," Logan responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm "At least you still have a dad,"

"Logan, leave it," Brady warned.

Garrus stepped up to the human, ready to begin a shouting match but thought better of it and turned away.

Logan, however, wasn't done "Hmph, no wonder daddy's disappointed in you. Can't even stick up for yourself," he baited.

The turian whiled back around, his face like thunder, and strode back towards the human with balled fists. Logan grinned and took up a fighting stance.

Before they could clash, Brady jumped in between them "Hey, hey! Knock it off!" he shouted, drawing the attention of everyone in the hangar "If you're going to do this, you're going to do this right. Ashley, we got any sport fighting tape?"

Williams stared for a moment before answering "Yeah, storage locker there,"

"What the fuck kinda military ship keeps fighting tape on board?" Logan asked following his friend.

"The kind that anticipates the crew not always getting along," Shepard answered from the engineering doors.

A few minutes later and both combatants were ready to fight, Kaidan opted to corner Garrus while Brady cornered Logan. They sat set up crates in a square to serve as a makeshift ring and Shepard assigned herself to the job of referee.

"You both know the rules," Shepard started "Keep it clean. Now, fight!"

Logan and Garrus met in the middle but held off attacking for the moment, both studying the others movements. Logan was the first to throw as he jabbed twice, both shots deflected by the turian. Garrus stepped forward and attempted a left hook to the body, but Logan jumped back out of the way. The turian then threw a leg kick that scored and Logan attempted to counter with a right hook but Garrus swayed back, effectively avoiding the strike. Garrus hit another two leg kicks and was throwing a third when Logan suddenly charged forward with a left jab, right straight, left hook to the body, right uppercut combination that forced Garrus to shell up and retreat. The turian backed all the way to the crate and looked to circle out to his left but was cut off by Logan. With his opponent against the 'ropes' Logan started unloading with left and rights, then stepped back. Garrus stepped forward and landed a kick to the body and Logan backed up even further to reset.

Logan saw the turian's eyes flicker down for a split second and when Garrus attempted another leg kick Logan was ready. The human punched with the classic one-two combo, staggering the turian and with Garrus backpedaling Logan charged swinging wildly. After a moment he let up on the barrage and brought his hands up to beckon Garrus forward before continuing his assault. The turian, however, focused on defending, not allowing himself to be goaded into a wild exchange. Logan let up before he gassed himself and retook the center of the ring. Garrus stepped forward with a one-two combination of his own before clinching. Logan slipped out of the clinch but ate a left hook on the way out. Once again Garrus telegraphed a leg kick and Logan rushed forward into another wild exchange and this time when he waved Garrus forward, the turian accepted and the two planted their feet and swung wildly, much to the delight of the audience. Garrus vision exploded in stars as two shots from the human connected flush and he shelled up. Smelling blood Logan pushed forward and threw with reckless abandon while Garrus pushed against the human with his left had to attempt to create space. With the turian's arm outstretched, Logan swung with a right uppercut that landed clean on Garrus' jaw, stunning him and knocking him to the floor. Ignoring the shouts of surprise from the onlookers Logan jumped onto the hurt turian and started throwing hammer fists to the head. Garrus was able to block the majority of the shots with his arms and was able to recover enough to push Logan off and regain full guard. The human pushed off the body of Garrus and opened up with bombs.

Garrus caught and trapped the human's right arm and swung his left leg up and in between him and Logan. The human recognized Garrus was attempting an armbar and tried to stand up but Garrus held tight and extended his hips fully locking on the submission. Logan suspended the turian in mid air trying to shake Garrus off, his face contorted in pain as he felt his arm begin to hyper extend. The human endured the pain for a few moments before Garrus was able to get a bit more leverage and it became too much.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Shepard shouted as Logan tapped and Garrus fell to the floor with a thunk. Logan held his arm as he sunk to his knees as Garrus rolled to his feet and held his arms up in victory while the audience clapped.

Brady hopped the crate and slid down to his knees in front of his friend "You okay, bud?" he asked while inspecting the arm.

"Armbar every fucking time!" Logan shouted in frustration and disappointment while fighting tears. His competitive nature made losing very hard to take.

He suddenly felt a pair of arms hoist him up from behind "You have nothing to be ashamed of," Shepard said as she hugged Logan "That was a damn good fight," Logan returned the hug with a nod but didn't say anything, the loss would leave a bad taste in his mouth for a few days.

Behind Shepard, Garrus approached the hugging humans "You are one tough son of a varren, Lerman. I don't even know how I ended up on my back," he admitted with a chuckle and an outstretched hand. The human accepted the proffered hand and his spirits were slightly lifted as he spotted swelling and bruising already starting to form on the turian's face.

"You two should go get checked out by Dr. Chakwas," Shepard ordered "Once I'm finished here, I've got some questions for you, Logan, so stay there,"

Logan once again nodded as he and Garrus turned towards the elevator, neither looking forward to being inspected by the ship's doctor as both had heard stories from the rest of the crew about how stern she could be.

_Med bay 15 minutes later_

Garrus had already been cleared to leave, so Logan sat alone with the doctor inspecting his arm. After confirming it wasn't injured, she cleared him to leave as well. The human stayed where he was, though, as he remembered Shepard wanted to speak. He didn't have to wait long as the med bay door whooshed open.

"How are they, doctor?" she asked the older lady.

"Minor bruising and swelling in Mr. Vakarian that will only take a few days to heal. As for Mr. Lerman here, he's slight bruising and his arm will be sore but otherwise no outstanding injuries," Dr. Chakwas replied.

"Good, that fight better have resolved the beef between you two," the commander said sternly to Logan "Because I need my team to be able to trust each other,"

"We'll be good Shepard," Logan promised.

"Alright then. Dr. Chakwas could you give us some privacy?" she asked and waited until the woman was in the back before continuing "Ready to answer my questions?"

"Strictly confidential?" Logan inquired "I'd rather my life story didn't get spread out amongst the ship,"

Shepard nodded "Everything you say stays between us,"

Logan smiled "Then, shoot,"


	4. Chapter 4

"Your friend, Brady, told me about his... rocky past. What about yourself?" Shepard started, sitting on the bed across from him.

Logan fixed his gaze on the floor "I'm in the same boat as him," he answered simply.

A few moments of silence passed "You know it isn't too late to switch boats," she stated.

Logan looked up at her "It's harder to jump ship than you think. I've been doing what I do too long, certain people won't allow me to walk away," he replied.

"I can help. Make sure these people won't bother you," the commander offered.

Logan shrugged "Thanks, but you have bigger problems than hunting down low level criminals," he said.

"I used to be like you. No really," Shepard said after Logan raised his eyebrows with a look of doubt on his face "I never knew my parents. I was an orphan and when I was twelve got inducted into a gang called the Reds,"

Logan started at that "The Tenth Street Reds?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know them?" She inquired regarding him with raised eyebrows.

Logan began laughing "Oh, shit, small galaxy. Yeah I know them. Before I moved to the Citadel I had a little run in with them," he said then looked to the ceiling recalling the memory "I was set to leave in a few hours so I had a little 'goodbye party' with the leader's girl,"

"Was Erickson still running things?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah. He caught me leaving their room, so I knocked out his front tooth and hauled ass to the space port. The gang was on my heels the whole time, but they were stopped by security and I made it to the Citadel,"

"If I know Erickson, which unfortunately I do, he wouldn't let you off that easily," Shepard declared.

Logan laughed again "Oh, he didn't. About a month later they found me, but at the time I was living in a gang controlled area and they didn't take kindly to another gang muscling their way into their territory," he recalled "Didn't have to lift a finger,"

"Anyway. How did you get involved with Fist?" the commander continued.

"I used to fight in those clubs down in the ass part of the wards. Fist was a fan of them and after a brutal battle with a turian he hired me as muscle," Logan explained "Wasn't long until he had me leading hits on drug trades,"

"I figured you had some fighting experience with the way you were giving Garrus a run for his money," Shepard mused.

"Yep. I'm 11-3 right now," Logan stated proudly "Well, 11-4 if you count my loss in the hangar,"

"I won't say anything if you won't" Shepard replied, smiling, earning a chuckle from the other human "I'm assuming you've only lost by armbar,"

Logan nodded "Yep, it seems to be my Achilles's heel," he answered with a sigh.

"Well for what it's worth, Garrus seemed to be in quite a lot of pain when I passed him on the way here," she said "But back to Fist, Brady told me he ripped you off, how?"

"Ripping me off is putting it lightly. He sent me on a suicide mission and then tried to underpay me," Logan replied then continued when Shepard didn't say anything "I was tasked with stealing a shuttle of Red Sand, the job went south and I lost everyone on my team. When I got the shuttle to Fist I had lost a big portion of the sand, so he tried to cut my pay by more than necessary,"

"What did you do?" Shepard asked.

"Threatened to destroy the drug truck and kill him. That was officially the end of our 'partnership'," Logan answered.

Shepard checked the time on her omni-tool "I still have some questions for you but we're getting close to Therum,"

"Who's going down with you?" Lerman asked.

"Garrus and you," she replied with a smirk.

"So soon after our fight?" Logan asked, confusion etched on his face.

Shepard nodded as she made her way towards the door "Yep and you better be ready to work as a team or I'll leave you there, because we need to trust you," she said.

"You don't want to trust me," Logan warned, stopping her at the door.

She studied him for a minute as he stared straight ahead at the wall "Yes, I do," Shepard simply replied before leaving.

_Therum surface, half an hour later_

"Wait, Ashley said you were certified to operate this thing," Logan stated as he held on for dear life while the Mako lurched and bucked.

"I am," Shepard replied shooting the human a confused look.

"Don't look at me! Watch where you're going!" Logan shouted and Shepard swerved just in time to avoid an ample size boulder.

Up in the gunner seat Garrus clutched the controls as the commander took an unnecessary jump "I've heard that your females are terrible drivers, but I always thought it was just a joke," he said, earning a scowl from Shepard.

"Oh, it's true, Garrus. Believe me, it's damn true," Logan declared.

Before Shepard could throw back a rebuttal the tank's sensors started picking up signals "Garrus, get ready, we've got hostiles inbound," she called to the turian.

"What do I do?" Lerman asked.

"Get on the terminal and keep our shields up," she ordered.

Logan leaned over and studied the screen for a moment before realizing it was out of his league as all the flashing lights and indicators meant nothing to him "I think Garrus and I should switch," he called to the commander.

"Why? You have no experience operating a turret," Shepard replied.

"Trust me I'd be more helpful on the gun than trying to figure this shit out," Logan said.

"We're in the clear now, Garrus give him a quick rundown on the turret controls then jump on the terminal," she barked.

Within minutes Logan was operating the turret well enough that Shepard decided to keep him there for the time being. Garrus did his part and kept the shields from depleting, a task which Shepard realized the other human could not do. They pushed through the opposition, sometimes not even stopping to mop up all the resistance and soon they came to a point where the Mako could not continue. Before they departed Shepard activated a beacon on the tank so it didn't get left behind. As the squad moved through the valley they came upon squad of geth troopers that hadn't spotted them yet. The trio quickly dropped into cover.

"Garrus takes the first shot. Lerman, you'll move up while I cover you. Got it?" Shepard asked as Logan shifted uncomfortably.

"Got it," he affirmed while adjusting his standard alliance helmet.

Garrus stood, sighted down a geth trooper, and with one pull of the trigger the geth had one less on their side. The rest of the geth immediately returned fire while Garrus popped a fresh clip into his rifle. Shepard stood next and began releasing bursts from her Vindicator and Logan took off for a closer position. He waited until Shepard had to reload before popping up and blowing the head off the closest geth and as the first fell he switched to another target. As he worked on one, another nearby fell from a sniper round. He was soon joined by Shepard who slid into cover next to him as he reloaded. The squad made quick work of the synthetics and took off at run down the path. Opposition was weak and soon they were on their way again.

Shepard turned to the other human as she heard a strange noise "You going to make it, Lerman?" the commander joked.

Logan was leaning against a metal crate breathing hard "I'll live," he gasped "Not used to lugging around armor,"  
Garrus turned to the human "A mercenary that doesn't use armor?"

Logan gulped "I meant this type of armor. I always used light armor, not this heavy bullshit," he answered, silently praising himself for quick thinking.

"You picked it out," Shepard declared "We had medium armor too,"

"The light armor you had had seen better days and the medium was for made for a woman," Logan replied actually using the truth this time.

"Well next time we're on the citadel go get yourself fitted, and while you're at it some better weapons," she said.

Logan furrowed his brows "What's wrong with my shotgun?" he asked looking down at his Katana.

Shepard didn't answer, instead raising her eyebrows and continuing on the path. Logan next looked to Garrus, who shrugged and followed the commander.

"I love my shotgun," Logan muttered to himself as he fell in line.

The group moved up a hill and were heading towards the mine entrance when a geth armature dropped in front of them along with four more geth troops.

"The fuck is that thing?" Logan shouted as the squad flew into cover.

"I don't know. Never seen a geth like that before," Garrus replied as he swung back into cover after taking out a geth trooper.

"Really, and how many geth have you seen in your illustrious career?" Logan asked sarcastically.

"Lerman, knock it off," Shepard warned "Focus on the small ones first,"

With Shepard and Garrus on either side of the crate taking turns firing, the opposition slowly fell. Suddenly a geth hopper landed in front of them. Logan shouted in alarm and instinctively fired his shotgun which blew off the geth's left arm. The geth retaliated with a shot of its own that hit the human square in the chest, taking out his shields immediately. Logan was able to finish it off with his second shot before it could continue firing.

"See, Shepard, there's nothing wrong with my sho-" he was cut off by another hopper that shot him from above. The round scored him in the upper back and he dropped with a yelp of pain.

Garrus popped the head of the hopper as Shepard dropped to help the wounded man. She activated her omni-tool and began administrating medi-gel.

"You alright, Lerman?" she asked.

Logan gasped in pain as he pushed himself up to his knees "Fucking fuck! Yeah, give me a second," he replied and after a moment stood back up, pain etched into his face.

"Big guy is all that's left, commander," Garrus called out.

"Good, take down his shields. Lerman get a grenade ready," she ordered.

Garrus popped out of cover and fired an overload that depleted the armature's recharging shields. Shepard and Logan then threw their primed grenades under the synthetic, the latter grunting in pain at the exertion. The explosion that followed was outstanding and the three retook cover to avoid shrapnel.

Without a word the squad moved to the entrance and began the descent. Inside the mines the geth were few and far between and soon they were at an elevator. They were almost to the bottom when it suddenly shuddered to a halt.

"Looks like we're walking," Garrus commented as they hopped down. They didn't get far when they came upon a barrier holding a suspended asari.

"Can you hear me out there? I'm trapped and need help," she cried.

"How the hell did you get in that thing?" Logan asked as he studied the asari. He never had a thing for the asari like most guys did but he had to admit she was pretty cute.

"I must have hit something when I activated it and now I can't get down," she replied.

"Come on, we need to find a way around it," Shepard ordered and the squad turned to leave.

"Don't go nowhere now, Missy," Logan said, chuckling at his own joke.

Down at the floor of the cavern they ran into more geth that seemed to be milling about. Logan flinched with every shot, the recoil aggravating his wound.

"Christ!" he shouted as he dropped into cover "Can't fucking hit anything,"

Shepard dispatched a geth trooper before turning to the human "Don't take chances. Give us covering fire if that's all you can do," she said.

The last synthetic dropped without a head "Who needs covering fire?" Garrus sarcastically asked with a turian equivalent of a smirk.

Shepard shook her head with a smile "Any ideas on how to get the doctor out of there?"

"Unless you've got a bomb magically stored away somewhere in that armor, we better start digging. Well, you guys start digging, I'm injured," Logan said.

"Then what use are you?" Shepard joked.

Logan grinned "Moral support?" he offered.

Shepard giggled at that then turned to where Garrus was tinkering with a large machine "What have you got there, Vakarian?"

"I've seen one of these before when I was in the military," the turian responded "A high intensity mining laser. They're pretty simple to use, I've got it lined up right, all I need is the activation code. Give me a minute and I'll have it hacked,"

While he worked Logan activated his omni-tool and started a video recording. He jumped a bit when the laser started up. After it deactivated he wrote 'Could have used this on a couple jobs' and sent it to Brady. The squad moved through the hole the laser created and used the elevator at the back to go up to Liara's level.

The asari strained her neck trying to look back at group "How did you get past the barrier?" she inquired.

"Mining laser," Garrus replied simply.

"Yes, that makes sense," she declared.

Shepard stepped forward to the controls "Let's get you out of there,"

She was stopped by Logan grabbing he arm "Wait, commander. How do we know we can trust her? She could be working for Saren too," he whispered.

"I'm not working for that monster!" Liara said, her voice laced with anger causing Logan to start "I- I don't know why my mother is either,"

Shepard and Logan traded looks before the commander hit the release, causing Liara to crash to the floor with a grunt. She stood and brushed herself off before shooting a glare at the male human.

Logan narrowed his eyes "What?" he asked aggressively and the asari dropped her glare.

Shepard waved him down then turned her attention to the asari "How long have you been in there?" she asked

"A day or two. I don't really remember," Liara asked as she studied the squad nervously. Before anyone else could say anything they were nearly thrown off their feet by a tremor. A few boulders even crashed into the cavern.

"These ruins are not stable, the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event!" Liara cried.

"Back to the elevator, now!" Shepard ordered and the group sprinted back to the lift "Joker, get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal. On the double, mister!"

"Fuck double! How about triple, quadruple, fuck it he needs to be here yesterday!" Logan shouted frantically.

"Calm down. He'll get us out of here," Garrus said and laid a hand on the human's shoulder.

Logan roughly brushed it off "Calm down? The fucking cave is falling in on us and we're relying on a cripple to get us out of here. Calm is the exact fucking opposite of what I should be!" he continued.

Shepard roughly spun the man around to so they were face to face "Pull yourself together, Lerman!" she shouted into his face "Panicking isn't going to help. Follow my orders and keep a level head and we're going to get out of here,"

"Your orders got us into this damn mess!" Logan roared back.

"Um, commander?" Liara spoke up. Shepard turned to see a group of geth blocking their way and a krogan strolling towards them.

"Surrender, or don't, that would be more fun," he stated.

"This place is falling apart," Shepard declared.

"I know, exciting isn't it?" he continued.

Logan, still in a frenzied state of mind, leveled his shotgun at the alien "Fuck you and fuck your robots!" he shouted but before he could fire the krogan used a biotic attack that threw him a few meters back into a pillar. Garrus and Shepard dove to cover while Liara panicked and dropped to the ground where she was standing.

"Lerman, you alright?" she called out for the countless time that day, growing worried as she got no reply "Liara! Liara, get up, I need you to check on him,"

Liara stood on shaky legs and began a sprint to the downed human after realizing none of their foes were shooting at her, meaning they wanted her alive.

As she reached Logan she noticed blood splats at the base of the pillar he had impacted. She knelt down to inspect him and noticed the back of his head was bleeding, but when she reached to apply medi-gel she was stopped by someone grabbing her wrist.

"So you're the one Saren wants. I can only imagine what he has in store for a pretty thing like you," it was the krogan, and behind him she could see that the geth were keeping the other two occupied. She struggled to break free of his grasp but her tiny frame was no match for hulking alien. Liara then started to charge up a biotic attack but was cut short by the krogan grabbing her by the neck.

"There will be none of that," he said. Her vision was beginning to fade to black as she struggled to breathe when a sudden blast caused the krogan to drop the asari and fall to the ground with a cry of pain. Logan, still seated at the base of the pillar, realigned the aim of his shotgun to the head of the krogan, who was attempting to apply med-gel to his injured leg. One pull of the trigger and the biggest threat in the room was eliminated. The rumbling was begging to intensify and the rubble that was raining down on them increased. Shepard killed the last geth trooper and the ran to help Logan up.

"We gotta move!" she declared as she hauled him to his feet, the sudden movement causing his vision to blur and he stumbled. Shepard slung his right arm around her neck and ran towards the exit, Garrus and Liara already ahead of them. The constant quaking made it tough going but the thought of getting trapped underground lent speed to their heels. Garrus, being the fastest of the four, broke out into daylight first, followed by Liara, and then finally Shepard helping Logan along. The Normandy was already sat down, waiting for them. Shepard sat Logan down so she could take a breather as Garrus continued on into the airlock. Liara stayed behind, not looking forward to being on a ship full of strangers.

"Are you two alright?" the asari asked.

"We'll be fine, thank you," Shepard asked after Logan stayed silent, refusing to look anywhere but the ground between his feet.

"I was telling the truth earlier. I don't know why my mother aligned herself with Saren," Liara repeated "I would help you, but I don't know what use you could have for me,"

"I hear you're a prothean expert?" Shepard asked and after the asari nodded she continued "Then you're just as valuable to me as the rest of the team. Come on, I'm sure everyone is waiting for us,"

Liara took over supporting the injured man "What will the rest of your people think of me?" she asked nervously.

Shepard chuckled "You'll be fine, trust me," she said as she lead the way to airlock. After a minute the decontamination process finished and they stepped into the Normandy "Joker, tell the ground team there's a mandatory meeting in an hour. Liara and Logan, I want both of you to go to Dr. Chakwas," Shepard ordered and watched as the two walked off, Logan recovered enough that he could walk on his own.

Joker half turned to look at the commander "How'd it go down there, commander?" he asked

_In the med-bay_

"Keep coming to visit me like this, Mr. Lerman, and I'll begin to think it's for me rather than your health," Chakwas joked as she mended his gunshot wound. Logan opted to stay silent, only grunting in pain whenever she touched a sensitive spot.

Liara was seated at the doctor's desk, watching the humans interact with fascination "The doctor is talking to you, Logan" she said, thinking the man had somehow not heard, earning a short stare from him before he returned his gaze to the wall in front of him.

"It's okay, Dr. T'Soni. I'm sure he heard me," Chakwas said "I've seen this plenty of times before. The shock hasn't completely worn off yet. Alright, Logan, you're free to go but I don't want you straining your left shoulder nor do I want you to do any heavy lifting with the slight concussion you have,"

Without a word Logan stood up off the medical bed and strode out. He made his way to the elevator, ignoring everything and everyone along the way. He stepped out into the nearly empty hangar, with only the requisitions officer and Brady occupying the large area.

Brady turned to him with a smile as Logan stopped at the work bench and began to undo his armor, letting it fall off of his body without care.

"So how did it go down there?" he asked, his smile faltering as he saw blank stare Logan was holding.

"I'm done, man. I'm just done," Logan replied quietly after a moment "I can't fucking do this,"

"What? We've barely even started," Brady said.

"I know, and if you want to stay you can, but fuck this. I almost died today," Logan said as he hopped up to sit on the bench with a sigh.

"Boo fucking hoo, you almost died. How many times have we stared death in the face in the past?" Brady retorted getting angry.

"This was different," Logan growled "I'm not scared of bullets, but getting trapped underground? No, just no"

"Dude, that was a one time thing," Brady tried reasoning.

"How do you know? What if Saren is hiding in one of those things, and uses it to trap us? I can't fucking do this shit," Logan replied hoping off the bench.

"So that's it? You're just going to fucking quit after just one mishap?" Daniels said.

"B, you know I'm no-" he started

"No, you're right. I shouldn't be surprised, after all you were the one who gave up on the Segonia job," Brady stated.

"Yeah I backed out, and look what fucking happened, Calvin died and Jake got life in prison," Logan replied, his face red in anger "You guys should have listened to me,"

"If you were there, we could have succeeded!" Brady screamed at him.

"So you blame me?" Logan matched his friend's shout "I backed out and told all of you to do the same, but NO! YOU HAD TO FUCKING TRY!"

"I had bills to pay! I don't have the luxury of passing up opportunities like that!" Brady continued, now inches away from Logan's face.

"Don't pull that shit on me, I've got a fucking daughter!" Lerman retorted "Which is exactly why I can't do this shit here!" a few moments passed wit the silence only being broken by heavy breathing, then Logan continued in a calm tone "I'm telling Shepard the next time we dock at the Citadel, I'm out,"

"You shouldn't let this one time deter you, Lerman" a female voice spoke up from the elevator and the duo turned to see Shepard leaning against the frame "Trust me when I say what we're doing is for the greater good. I'll need all the help I can get, and what from what I've seen you have potential. You just need to work on a few things,"

"Like?" Logan asked a little harsher than he meant to.

"You have to learn to trust me. Follow my orders at all times because although it may not seem like it sometimes, I know what I'm doing," she started, beginning to walk towards them "You also need to work on your weapon handling. You're doing good already, but with some work you'll be rivaling Williams. That's why I told you to get better weapons,"

Brady clapped his friend on the shoulder "See? We want you to stay," he said before making his way towards the elevator to give them privacy "See you guys at the meeting,"

Shepard and Logan watching him go before the latter spoke "Anything else?"

"Yes. You need to believe in yourself. Like I said you have a lot of potential, but it's held back by your self-doubt. Trust yourself and you'll be amazed at what you accomplish,"

Logan nodded "Sounds like you're speaking from experience." he stated.

Shepard smiled "When you spend the first eighteen years of your life surrounded by negativity, it tends to rubs off on you. The Alliance is good at hammering that out,"

"Too bad I don't have the Alliance," Logan said retorted with a huff.

Shepard put her hand on his shoulder, her N7 tattoo in clear view "Yes, you do," she said with a full grin that Logan couldn't help but return "Now, I'm sure everyone's waiting on us to start the meeting,"

Logan snorted "Fuck 'em,"

"No thank you, this is a military ship, not a brothel," Shepard countered causing Logan to stare at her wide-eyed before breaking down laughing.

The two made their way to the elevator and began its slow ascent "So how much of our shouting match did you hear?" Logan asked, breaking the silence.

"I arrived in time to hear Brady say you guys could have succeeded if you were there," Shepard admitted "Job gone wrong, I presume?"

Logan nodded somberly "Yeah. One of our friends ended up killed and another, uh, captured," he explained.

"Sorry to hear that, I've lost my share of friends too," Shepard said "How long have you and Brady known each other?" she suddenly asked catching him off guard.

"Eight years, roughly, why?" Logan asked.

"That's a long friendship, you shouldn't let it be torn apart by mistakes like that," Shepard said.

Logan chuckled suddenly "We've always been like that, since I can remember at least. We both agree a good yelling session keeps our friendship alive,"

Shepard shook her head "Odd, but if you guys aren't going to kill each other, I guess it's alright," she stated.

"Nah, we love each other too much for that," Logan stated causing Shepard to laugh "We'll keep our shout matches from happening on the Normandy, though,"

Shepard chuckled again at that "I would say I appreciate it but I can't argue with a good stress reliever," she stated as they reached the door to the meeting room, but stopped before entering and turned back to him "Besides, I'm starting to enjoy hearing you shout," she said with a sly grin. Logan stared after her for a minute before following her in.

_After the meeting_

"So you still gonna quit when we get the Citadel?" Brady asked his long time friend as the filed out of the room. They had just been notified they were returning to the Citadel so Anderson and Udina could talk to Liara, which also granted them two days leave.

"I don't know," Logan answered.

"Quit? Why?" Tali asked from behind, the duo forgetting she was the only one other than Shepard that was left in the meeting room.

"I about got put in an early grave," Logan answered "Because this isn't what I'm used to,"

"This isn't what I'm used to either," Tali countered "When I left the Flotilla, I assumed I would be working minimum wage while trying to complete my pilgrimage,"

"HA!" Brady shouted "See? She's even less experienced than you and she hasn't quit yet,"

"She also didn't nearly get buried alive," Logan retorted "But I see your point. I'll think about it,"

"Alright, but can you at least give this one more shot?" Brady asked.

"Fine. After leave, I'll give it one more opportunity, but if I decide it's not for me then I'm quitting and you leave me the fuck alone about it," Logan offered.

"Agreed," Brady replied and the two shook on it, then he threw his arms around both Logan and Tali "Now let's go get us some grub,"

Shepard appeared next to Logan "Mind if I join you?" she asked.

"Even if we said no, it's your ship," Logan said and she chuckled as Logan slung his arms around Brady and Shepard's shoulders, effectively creating a wall of bodies "But whatever, come on I'm starving and I want to hear more about Tali's pilgrimage,"

"There's not much to tell. I-"

"Ah ah ah, save it for the mess hall," Logan jokingly reprimanded her.

Shepard laughed as they made their way to the mess hall, happy that the man had decided to give the mission another chance and happier still that his mood had been lifted.

_At the citadel, 1 day later_

Most of the ground team, plus a few of the crew, filed out of the Normandy, excited to have some down time. Garrus saying he was going to see his dad, Ashley was going to visit the memorial set up for the soldiers who lost their lives protecting Eden Prime, Kaidan had stayed aboard since a massive migraine kicked in, Wrex had taken off only telling them some business needed taken care of, and Shepard was going to escort Liara to the human embassy.

"What are you two's plans?" the commander asked Logan and Brady as they stepped out of the elevator into C-Sec academy.

"My girlfriend is on Earth right now, so I was hoping I could just tag along with you," Brady replied and Shepard nodded with a smile.

Logan strolled away to the rapid transit unit "I'm going to visit my daughter, while she still remembers she has a dad, and pay my mom for watching her," he said.

"After we're done at the embassies we were going to go get lunch, you in? My treat and you can bring your daughter," Shepard called.

"Sounds good, shoot me a message when you're ready," he replied as he clambered into a vehicle.

The three waved to him as the vehicle took off before assembling inside the elevator that would take them up to the presidium.

"Don't know what I was thinking," Brady simply said.

"What?" Shepard asked after a few moments of silence.

"Volunteering to go with you guys to visit ole Udina after what happened last time," he replied.

Shepard chuckled "Don't worry, he's not interested in you this time. He only wants to talk to Liara," she said.

Brady noted the look of concern that suddenly appeared on the asari's face "No pressure, right?" he asked sarcastically.

"If he says anything out of line, I'll put him back into it," Shepard reassured Liara.

"He's not that bad," Brady added "I just don't have a good past, so naturally we wouldn't get along,"

Liara just nodded, too nervous to speak. Soon they reached the human embassy door and the three braced themselves before entering.

"Shepard, about time," Udina said upon seeing them "I see you brought Mr. Daniels with you. I still have his file on hand,"

"I'm out," Brady said and turned to leave, his face contorted in anger.

Without breaker her gaze from the ambassador, Shepard reached out with one hand and clutched the collar of Brady's shirt to stop him from leaving.

"We're here so you can ASK Liara here some questions, not interrogate the rest of my team" she said definitively.

Anderson stepped forward before Udina could respond "Of course, Shepard, why don't you three sit down," he offered, ignoring the glare the ambassador was shooting him.

After the group was settled they began the questioning.

_Lower wards apartment block_

Logan knocked on the door to his mom's apartment. Down the hall a turian stood outside, what Logan presumed to be, his own door staring at the human.

"The fuck you look at?" Logan challenged and the turian turned away. Moments later the door opened to reveal an aging woman with dark brown hair that had gray beginning to sprout.

"Logan!" she cried wrapping her arms around the man's neck.

"High, mom. How are you?" he asked as he handed her a sizable credit chit.

The woman's eyes grew wide as she saw the amount on the side "I'm fine. Dana!" she called in a sing song vocie "Someone's here to see you,"

Seconds later a little girl came around the corner with a krogan doll in her hand, upon seeing her dad she dropped the dall and her face lit up in a grin "Daddy!" she shouted.

Logan dropped to his knees to receive the sprinting hug from his daughter "How have you been sweetie?"

"Good," the girl answered from the crook of his neck. He picked her up and carried her into the living room while his mom prepared drinks.

The next hour was spent catching up with his family and telling his daughter stories of his travels, and if he stretched the truth a bit, his daughter never knew.

**/**

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. I've only had a couple days free each week so if this chapter seems rushed let me know how to fix it. **


	5. Chapter 5

Shepard stormed out of the human embassy office with Brady and Liara scampering behind her.

"Did I say something wrong?" Liara asked nervously. The questioning hadn't been going on long when the ambassador started throwing accusations at the asari.

The commander didn't slow down or look back at she answered "No, Liara, you did fine. It's not your fault that the Udina is a self righteous..." She stopped as she struggled to find an ample description for the ambassador.

"Turd?" Brady suggestion and Shepard nodded.

The trio were stopped as Shepard's omni-tool's alarm went off, indicating an incoming transmission. She hit the accept button an a live feed popped up to display an aging human dressed in formal military wear.

"Commander Shepard, I am Rear Admiral Kahoku. I have a... problem that I need your help with," the man stated.

"What's the problem, sir," Shepard responded, hiding her frustration for the moment.

"A few of my men have gone missing in the Artemis Tau cluster while on a recon assignment. Ever since they got reported missing the incident has been classified and I can't get any information on the matter," Kahoku explained.

"Do you want me to ask the council?" Shepard asked, hoping that was the case as she didn't want any distractions on her primary objective of bringing down Saren.

"No, I doubt they would give you the truth, but as a spectre you can go anywhere. I would like you to investigate the matter personally as a favor to me," he responded.

"I'll find them, Admiral," Shepard said with certainty.

"Appreciate it, Commander. I'll keep trying to get an audience with the council. Won't hold my breath. Kahoku out," the admiral said as he killed the link.

"What now, Shepard?" Brady asked.

"Now I'm about to become the galaxies most hated boss because I'm ending leave early," Shepard stated "I'll message Wrex and Garrus. Brady, can you track down Logan and Ashley?"

"Sure thing, ma'am" he answered and took off to find a transit terminal.

_An hour later on an elevator to dock 42._

"This is bullshit," Logan complained "I haven't seen my daughter in a week and I only get a couple of hours with her before it's back to work?"

"You have a daughter?" Ashley asked, genuinely surprised, causing Brady to laugh.

"Yes, why is that so hard for everyone to believe?" Logan inquired looking back and forth between the two.

"Sorry, it's just hard to see you as a dad," Ashley admitted.

Logan narrowed his eyes "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked

"Well, you swear a lot and I mean A LOT," the gunnery chief started.

"I censor myself around her," Logan said "but I admit I've slipped a few times,"  
"And you are always screaming at the top of your lungs," Ashley finished.

"I don't scream, I yell," he corrected "And only because I've worked with too many idiots, it's shortened my fuse quite a bit,"

The elevator finally arrived and the three stepped out to make their way into the Normandy. After they were through decontamination Shepard gave the order to head for the Artemis Tau cluster with an eta of five hours.

Down in the hangar a few hours later, Brady was leading his long time friend to the weapons lockers. A shipment of arms and armor came in while they were on leave and a few pieces were marked for the two.

"Let's see what the commander picked out for us," Brady said as he began to open the container with his name on it. Inside was an M-97 Viper semi-automatic sniper rifle with a brand new N7 Hurricane submachine gun. His armor included an Alliance blue Recon hood with the rest of the body pieces being manufactured by Serrice Council in an Alliance blue as well.

"Hell yeah!" Daniels exclaimed "What you got, bro?"

Logan held up an M-15 Vindicator assault rifle"Nice to see she's unbiased," he said sarcastically as he set the rifle back in the crate next to his new M-5 Phalanx. Also included was a full set of gray Kestral armor.

"That looks sick! See what you get when you join up with a spectre?" Brady boasted, clapping his friend on the back.

Logan smiled as he shook his head "I hope she doesn't mind me still bringing along my shotgun for some familiarity," he stated as he tossed his shotgun in the crate with the rest of his stuff.

"I'm okay with it, as long as you promise to use the M-15. It wasn't cheap," Shepard said from behind them and the duo turned to see the commander, Ashley, and Kaidan stride up. Shepard and Kaidan were both in their armor, weapons clipped to the back. Williams wasted little time in undressing so she could get her armor on as well.

"We picked up a distress signal coming from Edolus," Shepard explained "Alenko and Williams are coming with me to check it out,"

"We'll come with you," Brady offered "Give us a chance to break in our new equipment,"

"This is the alliance's concern," Kaidan cut in "We don't need the likes of you sticking your noses in our business,"

Before Shepard could speak Logan stepped up to the biotic "Fuck you, Alenko! Shepard invited us to be part of her crew so like it or not it is our business,"

"Stand down, both of you," Shepard ordered sternly "I'm sorry, guys, but the LT is right... sort of. This assignment is classified by the alliance. I won't betray their command by bringing non-alliance personnel with me," Behind her Kaidan smirked slightly. After Williams finished changing, the squad moved to the Mako to prepare for their drop. Brady and Logan left the hangar for the mess hall where a group of the crew was playing Skyllian five poker. Garrus and Tali sat apart from the group in their own discussion until Logan and Brady dropped into seats next to them.

"Got a question for you, Vakarian," Logan interrupted suddenly thinking of a problem "What do you know about the Tayseri Twisted?"

Garrus studied him for a second "Street gang. Low level too, they aren't too much of a problem. C-Sec usually doesn't pay them much attention, why?"

"I've gotta bit of beef with them," Logan answered truthfully.

"Beef? Isn't that food?" Garrus asked.

"Yes," Brady answered "But humans sometimes use it to describe having a grudge with someone,"

"Strange. Anyway, like I said C-Sec usually don't hassle them much. What's your 'beef' with them?" Garrus asked.

"Rather not say," Logan said "Just wondering if you had any idea who their leader is,"

"I do," Garrus answered "I'll give you his name if you tell me why you want him,"

Logan gave the turian a hard stare before standing "Forget it, I'll find out on my own," he said as he walked off.

With Logan gone Garrus turned his attention to Brady "Don't suppose you know why he wants the Twisted gone?" he inquired.

"I do, but it's not my place to tell," Brady said "I have a friend, though, who has been terrorized by them for the last few years. Being forced to pay protection. I'd like to see them gone,"

"I can give you the name but just killing their leader won't cause them to uproot and move," Garrus stated "You would have to do some serious damage before they disbanded,"

"Any ideas?" Brady asked the turian.

"Never given it much thought. A straight on assault wouldn't do much good as the area they've inhabited is a surprisingly defensible position. Now whether that was the a smart decision by the leader or dumb luck, I don't know," Garrus replied "I suppose you could set them up and let someone else do the dirty work, but I can't think of anyone who would give the Twisted a second thought,"

Brady nodded but didn't say anything.

_1 hour later_

The remaining squad met the ground crew as they boarded the Normandy. Shepard stormed past without saying a word. Kaidan and Ashley were a bit slower and got stopped by the crew.

"What happened?" Tali asked, growing concerned at the dismayed looks on the two human's faces.

"Thresher Maw," Ashley answered simply drawing a gasp from everyone but Wrex.

"That's it?" the krogan asked, to which he was ignored.

"What about the distress beacon?" Garrus asked next.

"It was a trap," Kaidan replied "And we weren't the only ones to spring it,"

Logan thought for a second "How many soldiers?" he asked earning hard stares from both alliance members "Wasn't that hard to figure out,"

"Three bodies is all we saw," Williams finally answered "Who knows how many got eaten before we got there,"

The news had hit Brady hard, while not in the alliance anymore, he still felt a kinship towards the military "So what now? Do you know who set the trap?" he asked.

"No, Shepard's delivering the news to their CO. Hopefully they have an idea on who," Ashley responded "I'd like some payback,"

The questions ended and the two were let through to clean up. It was a long half hour before anyone saw Shepard again. The crew were eating a silent meal in the mess hall when she exited her quarters.

"As most of you know, we just found a squad of deceased soldiers down there on Edolus," she began "I passed on the information to their officer's. They already have a lead for us. A group called Cerberus is believed to be behind setting the beacon and luring the alliance to a Thresher nest,"

"Cerberus? Isn't that an Alliance black ops unit?" Brady asked.

"Not anymore, they supposedly dissolved after the First Contact war, but they must have gone rogue. I was provided with the location of three of their facilities on Binthu over in the Voyager Cluster. We are going to infiltrate those facilities and see if we can get some answers," Shepard stated.

"I'm assuming you will be including the rest of the team this time?" Logan asked.

"Yes, everyone will be on the ground for this," the commander replied as she brought up a map on her omni-tool and enlarged it for all to see "Here are the teams; Lerman, Wrex, and myself as team leader. Williams, T'Soni, and Daniels on the second with Williams in charge. Alenko will lead Vakarian and Zorah on the third team. The Normandy will drop us all off at our respective posts. Here's the plan,"

_Binthu surface_

"Whiskey team, this is Sierra team, do you copy?" Shepard said into the comms.

"We read you, Sierra team. Set to infiltrate target two," came the reply from Ashley.

"Kilo team, reporting. Awaiting signal," Kaidan chimed in.

"Engage targets, radio silence unless necessary, Sierra out," Shepard ordered and killed the comms.

Logan gripped his vindicator tight as Shepard hit the door console while, next to him, Wrex looked almost bored. Since this was primarily an infiltration assignment, he couldn't just rush in guns blazing. The squad moved through the lab, the two humans ever so slightly unnerved by the eery silence that greeted them, only broken by the patter of their footsteps. They came up to another door and got into position, this time Wrex opened it. The filed through into a darkened room, the only light on was above a door on the other side.

"Lerman see if you can get the lights on in here," Shepard whispered urgently as she could here raspy breathing, and it sounded like there was more than one. Logan felt his away along the wall until he came to a terminal. Using his omni-tool light he found the light controls and switched them on. The room they were in turned out to be a containment area, filled with humanoid creatures who rushed the squad as soon as the lights activated. The squad raised their weapons but stopped short of firing after the creatures bounced off the containment barriers.

"The fuck are those things!" Logan shouted, keeping his rifle trained on the nearest being that was pounding on the barrier to no avail.

Wrex strolled to the terminal that kept them contained and after a few clicks found the information page "Says these things are 'Thorian Creepers'," he answered.

"The hell is a Thorian?" Logan asked, finally lowering his weapon.

"Never heard of one," Wrex said honestly.

"Come on, these things can't get out. We need to press on," Shepard ordered.

Ashley kept her M-8 Avenger assault rifle ready as her squad marched down a hall. The only resistance they encountered were two scientists on break that got put down quickly by Brady, much to the astonishment of Ashley. If these people were responsible for the death of the marines on Edolus then she wouldn't be grieving for the scientists but the way Daniels put down the two without hesitation worried her a bit. Liara brought up the rear, beyond terrified. She didn't feel sorry for what they planned to do to these people, but she had never killed another living being in her life and wasn't looking forward to doing so. The group didn't let their guard down, so when they were ambushed in the next room, the squad reacted quickly. Brady eliminated one with a spray from his hurricane. Ashley took down another with a burst from her rifle. Liara summoned her biotics and produced a throw attack that tossed two into a wall with one being knocked unconscious immediately and the other left in the open as easy prey. The remaining three enemies took to cover and began to trade fire with the squad. Thinking on her feet Liara threw out a singularity that pulled the three off their feet. They were helplessly suspended in the air, easy targets for the trained soldier and former soldier.

"What the hell is that?" Brady asked as he surveyed their surroundings. On the far back wall there was a single cell that held a large quadruped bug-like creature. The squad stared wide-eyed at the thing as it shrieked at them through the barrier.

A groan from the waking Cerberus commando brought their attention to him "Maybe he can tell us," Ashley said.

Kaidan dove for cover as bullets began to fly around him. Tali dropped into cover next to him while Garrus chose a position opposite of them. The human popped up to force a couple out of cover with a warp. One of which was dropped immediately by a shot from Garrus' M-92 Manits sniper rifle. The other scrambled for more cover but got dropped by a shotgun shot to the legs, a second shotgun blast eliminated him. Tali fired an overload at one, taking out the woman's shields, allowing Kaidan to finish her off with his M-3 Predator. Garrus scored another head shot and the opposition began to waiver. The Cerberus officers' gunfire became erratic as they panicked. Kilo team picked their shots, careful to avoid the frantic gunfire. Tali's M-27 Scimitar took out another as Garrus dropped one as well. Kaidan claimed the remaining foe with a biotic throw that sent the trooper into the wall, breaking his neck instantly. With the firefight over, the squad took stock of their surroundings and noticed a single cell with a containment barrier active. Inside were two green bug looking things and a human body. Upon further observation they could see the body was wearing military apparel.

"Oh, no," Kaidan muttered as he activated his comms "Sierra team, com in. We've found Kahoku. He's kia,"

It wasn't long before Shepard answered "Dammit... get his body back to the Normandy, we're going to continue to search for clues"

Suddenly Ashley's voice cut it "This is Whiskey team, we have a hostage. We can set up an interrogation for him,"

"Get him back to the Normandy as well," Shepard ordered, the fire restored to her voice "I'll be there shortly.

Shepard activated the fail safe on the terminal and the sqaud sprinted towards the exit. They had decided that these things either had been abandoned or the facility temporarily evacuated. Either way they didn't want the creepers getting out so the only option was to destroy the lab. Luckily the lab wasn't very big and it was only a minute before they burst out the door, but they didn't stop their sprint until they were at the base of the ramp to the Normandy, upon which the facility behind them erupted in fire as the building shuddered under the explosion. On the horizon two smoke stacks rose into the skuy, indicating that the other facilities suffered the same fate. Up inside the hangar the hostage, a young male, was cuffed as he sat in a chair from the meeting room. Garrus and Brady stood guard over him, the two big males discouraging any escape plans.

Shepard studied the young man for a moment before speaking to her squad "I need to report to Kahoku's death to the alliance. Logan, Garrus, see what you can get from him," she ordered "The rest of you can go get cleaned up,"

Logan stopped Shepard from leaving as the rest filed into the elevator but waited until it departed to speak "These Cerberus guys seem like the real deal. I doubt he'll tell us anything because we just ask. Just a warning, I'm not going to be nice," he said, loud enough for the agent to hear.

"Do what you have to," Shepard said while staring at their hostage, then boarded the returned elevator.

Logan turned to Garrus, who nodded, then looked back to the hostage "How about we start with your name?" he asked as he cracked his knuckles through his gloves.

"I won't tell you anything, bitch," the man spat.

Logan chuckled as he shook his head, then suddenly struck with a left hook "I asked for your fucking name. I suggest you give it to me while I'm still asking," he warned and after a few moments of silence Logan struck him again with a right hook.

The agent tasted blood as he shook his head "John Doe, asshole," he answered, awarding him three consecutive right straights, breaking his nose.

"Think you're smart?" Logan asked as he slapped the man across the face, spraying the floor with blood "Huh? I'm not an Alliance soldier. I'm not held back by regulations and rights. I can do whatever the fuck I want, to get the information that I want,"

The agent took a couple of short breaths "Cerberus would do much worse to me if I snitched," he said.

Logan looked around the hangar as if looking for someone "I don't see Cerberus here, do you? Tell us where they operate or we'll see if you think that after I'm done," he demanded.

"Fuck you," the man said trying to blink away the swelling around his right eye.

"Not an option," Logan growled as he began to hammer away at the man's mid section. After a few seconds he let up and the agent gasped for breath before receiving a straight right to the injured nose, causing the prisoner to cry in pain.

"I know you saw our krogan friend," Logan said calmly "Tell us what I want to know and I won't feed you to him, bit by fucking bit,"

The agent looked frantic for a second "No, I won't," he denied, attempting to wipe the blood off onto his sleeve but Logan grabbed his chin and forced the man to look at him before roughly pushing his head aside.

"You know, I've been just trying to save us time. We got a load of intel on you Cerberus fucks from those three bases down there. I'm sure the location of your main base is in there somewhere," Logan stated as he walked over to Garrus' toolbox and began to pick up every tool and inspect them "If you would have just told me, we would have just given you to the alliance. But since you won't play ball, I get to remove both of yours,"

The man's eyes widened as Logan pulled out a high powered fusion cutter and activated it. Lerman demonstrated its power by slicing another tool in half, the cutter going through it like a hot knife on butter.

"I wonder how long it'll take to remove a leg with this?" Logan mused "Now... you can say anything you want, 'cause I've heard it all before. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you ain't gonna get,"

The agent looked to Garrus with panicked eyes and the turian couldn't believe what he was seeing "Logan, put down the cutter. We aren't going to torture him for no reason," Garrus interjected as he placed himself in between the agent and Logan.

"Get the fuck out of the way, Garrus," Logan ordered "You saw what he was doing down there, this is nothing compared to what they did to Kahoku and most likely other people,"

"So you would lower yourself to their level?" Garrus responded "I don't have any feelings for him or Cerberus, but I won't allow you to torture him for your own personal amusement,"

"He brought this upon himself," the human pressed "I tried being nice, fun time is over,"  
Garrus pulled his pistol from his hip but refrained from pointing at his friend "Put. The. Cutter. Dwn." he demanded.

Logan sighed as he deactivated the tool and tossed it back into the tool box "Fucking hell, Garrus, I was bluffing!" he shouted "What type of animal do you take me for?"

Garrus holstered the pistol as he stuttered while trying to come up with an apology "I-I well- I. Sorry, I'm not used to this brutality with C-Sec or in the military,"

"C-Sec is a bunch of pussies and your military has too many rules," Logan stated "Welcome to the real world, Garrus. Our enemies won't give us what we want just because we ask nicely, sometimes you gotta get rough,"

The elevator suddenly opened and Brady stepped out. He studied the situation, his face contorting in anger at the sight before him "What the hell are you guys doing?" he growled.

"Asking our friend where his boss works," Logan answered.

"That doesn't look like 'asking'!" Brady shouted "What are you hitting him for? You think that's gonna work? I should have known you wouldn't be able to handle this,"

"Oh,Fuck you! You're just like the alliance, you won't force it out of them," Logan retorted "One way or another I always get what I need,"

"Okay, fucking Sherlock Holmes! You're so fucking smart, where's the main base? Hmm?" Brady asked coming nearer.

"The fuck do you think we've been asking him?" Logan shouted back.

"What's his answer, then? Is it on the Citadel?" Brady asked sarcastically.

"We'll get it out of him, fuck off if you aren't going to help!" Logan spat.

"Think, idiot!" Brady shouted "If you fucking beat this prick long enough, he'll tell you he started the goddamn Chicago fire, now that don't necessarily make it fucking so! Enough is enough!"

Logan hid his smile as he turned back to the hostage and got within inches if the man's face "If you don't tell me where the main base is, so help me g-" he was interrupted by a headbutt from the hostage. Garrus stepped forward and kicked the man to the ground before jumping on top of him.

Logan rubbed the bridge of his nose, which miraculously hadn't been broken "Motherfucker!" he growled. Rage took over and Logan grabbed the emergency can of fuel for the Mako "Move, Garrus!" he ordered and the turian complied. Standing over the hostage Logan began to dump the fuel onto the hostage who spluttered and gagged. After the man was soaked Logan tossed the can to the side and grabbed a welding tool from the tool box, then grabbed the hostage by the front of his shirt. After dragging the man to the hangar door, Logan hit the ramp control to lower it. The Normandy was still in Binthu's atmosphere and the wind noise was deafening. Logan dragged the man to the side of the ramp and activated the welder but held it back behind him as to not accidentally set the man on fire.

"What do you think will kill you first!" Logan shouted above the wind "The fire or hitting the ground!"

"Nepheron!" the hostage cried "The base is on Nepheron in the Columbia system!"

Logan smirked and deactivated the welder before dragging the man back inside and raising the hangar ramp after tossing the hostage to the ground "Was that so hard?" he asked sarcastically.

Logan held the smug look on his face as he passed Brady and Garrus on his way to the elevator, the former shaking his head.

"There I softened him up for you guys. See what else he knows," Logan said as the elevator door shut.

Shepard was brought out of deep thought by a knock at her door. She had been looking through what little information they gathered from the bases on Binthu without much luck. And after reading that two of the labs held Rachni specimen, she was beginning to doubt the credibility of the files. She was banking on their hostage cracking and giving them the location of Cerberus' main base while at the same time trying not to think what Logan was doing to the unfortunate agent in the hangar, as Lerman didn't have regulations to follow.

"Come in," she called towards the door, which opened to reveal the human she had been just thinking of "Have you got anything new for me?"

Logan nodded with a full grin "Cerberus has a base on Nepheron," he declared.

"Good work, Logan," Shepard stated, feeling an immense weight being lifted off her shoulders "And the hostage?"

Logan stayed silent for a moment "Still breathing," he finally answered.

The commander didn't press the issue, seeing the abrasions on the man's hands she figured she was fortunate enough that the captive was still alive "Alright. I'm surprised you helped with this much enthusiasm, mercenaries usually don't get along with the military," she stated.

Logan chuckled "You have no idea. But, while my relationship with the alliance is shit, I don't wish what happened to the admiral on any human... or alien for that matter," he responded.

"Well then, I thank you," Shepard smiled "If there's anyway I can return the favor just tell me,"

"Now that mention it, I do believe we were going to have lunch on the Citadel. In return for the base's location, you can let me treat you to dinner," Logan offered.

"A date, huh?" Shepard asked with a sly grin "If you were a marine, I'd have to deny your request as our superiors don't like fraternization among the ranks,"

"Good think I'm not military then," Logan said, returning the smirk.

"Good thing," Shepard agreed "Next time we're on the citadel you can take me out. But right now we need to focus on Cerberus,"

"You bringing the whole team again?" Logan asked as the two exited the CO's quarters.

"Not everyone. I want to hit this base silently and I can't do that with a full team," Shepard said.

Logan nodded "Then who?"

"Ashley and Kaidan wouldn't ever forgive me if I didn't bring them along. I'd also like you and Brady to come along," she responded, stopping at the short ramp up to the galaxy map.

"Not that I'm complaining but why Brady and I?" Logan inquired "You know Kaidan doesn't like us,"

"Like I said a few days ago, you need the experience, it will hone your skills. And working as a team will dissolve the distrust between you and Alenko. Don't worry, he'll come around," Shepard explained.

"Whatever you say, see you on deck, commander," Logan said and strolled away to inform the others on the assignment details.

**/**

**A/N: I split the Cerberus conflict into two chapters so I can devote more time to the base assault.**


	6. Chapter 6

Kaidan took up position to the left of the entrance to the Cerberus base. Shepard took position on the right and waited while Logan scavenged the dead bodies for thermal clips and credits. They had landed on Nepheron half an hour ago and had only taken twenty minutes to reach the base. Shepard had split the squad into a sniper team; Brady and Ashly, and infiltration team; herself, Logan, and Kaidan much to the biotic's dismay. The infiltration team let the sniper team take out the small guard force outside the base from a nearby ridge before approaching.

Shepard gave Logan a nod and he pressed the door's console to open it, then dove to the side. After it opened the two marines scrambled in searching for targets but found none in the immediately vicinity.

"Ashley, keep an eye out for Cerberus reinforcements while we're in here. We don't need them hitting us from behind," Shepard ordered.

"You got it, commander," came the gunnery chief's reply.

The squad moved deeper into the complex, their weapons ready to go at the slightest hint of resistance. They didn't have to wait long as the next room held a squad of seven Cerberus soldiers who immediately opened fire upon the infiltration team. Kaidan used his biotics to lift one off her feet, upon which she was decimated by Shepard's rifle. Kaidan stood again to use his biotics again but was instead thrown back into the wall by the enemies own biotics. The commando that issued the attack strode forward, intending to finish off the lieutenant but his head was nearly blown completely off by a shot from Logan's Katana. Lerman then switched to his vindicator and gave it a test volley on another enemy, satisfied that with one burst it completely depletes the shields. Another burst from his rifle and the enemy was eliminated.

"Love this rifle, Shepard!" Logan shouted above the gunfire.

"Does that mean you'll get rid of that shotgun?" She asked as she reload.

Logan chuckled, despite the situation "Hell no!" he roared.

Kaidan worked his biotics some more and was able to force a couple out into the open with a warp where they were quickly put down by Shepard and Logan. They didn't have time to rest, though as more soldiers poured from door on the far side of the room.

"They really don't want us getting through here," Logan observed as bullets pinged off his cover.

Kaidan biotically threw a man, knocking him unconscious "Makes you wonder what they're hiding," he said.

Logan fired a few bursts, killing one and wounding another "Not really, but I hope they got some credits here somewhere," he added.

"Is money all you think about?" Kaidan accused.

"Sorry but I don't get alliance's pay and benefits," Logan retorted.

Kaidan chose not to continue the argument, instead focusing his aggravation on the Cerberus commandos. More opposition entered the fray, which left Shepard wondering how deep the base ran.

"They're thinning out, must be the rest of-" Kaidan began before being frozen in a stasis bubble.

"Alenko!" Shepard shouted as the offending biotic used her biotics again to throw a crate into the commander.

"Fuck!" Logan shouted and rolled out of cover and into a new piece as his was compromised by a warp. The Kestrel's shields took damage but stayed up, surprising the human at how resilient they were. He popped a burst off, killing the biotic foe, before being forced down by more fire, his shields now gone. Shepard had now recovered but was busy dealing with three commandos. Kaidan dropped out of stasis and readied his biotics to attack an approaching enemy, but was stopped short as he received a punch to the face. Kaidan shook his head to clear his vision and saw that his assailant was a man with such genetic modification that his physique rivaled superheroes from comic books he read as a child. The lieutenant didn't have too much time to marvel as the man grabbed Kaidan and kneed him in the stomach, driving all the air out of the marine's lungs, dropping him to his knees. The hulk of a man chuckled and Alenko could hear him cracking his knuckles, then abruptly he received a kick that sent him into a crate. Suddenly Logan came flying over the crate and delivered a superman punch to the Cerberus soldier, causing him to stagger back. Without pause, Logan charged forward and grabbed the man in a Muay Thai clinch, delivering a solid right knee to the face, earning a satisfying crunch as the man's nose broke. Still the commando didn't drop and Logan punched, as hard as he could, to the enemy's face but the commando deflected it and delivered a right hook of his own, knocking Logan to the floor.

Kaidan, from his knees, attacked with a biotic lift that suspended the foe in mid air, taking away the man's strength. Logan pulled his pistol out, as did Kaidan, and their combined fire turned the genetic freak into swiss cheese.

Shepard came dashing over, as she had just cleared the rest of the opposition "You boys alright?" she asked as Logan offered his hand to Kaidan, who stared at it for a second before accepting it and allowing Logan to hoist him to his feet.

"We're good, Shepard," Logan replied still looking at Kaidan.

_Outside_

Ashley was scanning the horizon through her M-92 Mantis, watching for signs of Cerberus forces when a warning from Brady caused her to swivel to face his directions.

"Two rovers approaching," he stated "Cerberus markings visible,"

"Shit," Ashley hissed "Hold your fire until my mark,"

The two prone marines waited as the rovers, each containing five Cerberus commandos, stopped near their own mako. One by one the soldiers filed out to inspect the alliance tank, one of them waving his arms and pointing about, clearly the one in charge. Fortunately none of the commandos entered the base, instead spreading out and searching the outside while inspecting the bodies of their fallen comrades. The leader's movements became more animated as he barked out more orders, unaware that cross hairs from a sniper rested on his head from behind. A subordinate got his attention, causing him to turn and unknowingly face the sniper. A pull of the trigger from Ashley and the Cerberus squad was leaderless. A half second later Brady opened fire and with two shots took out another commando. The enemies below scrambled for cover, while trying to figure out where they were getting picked off from. One unfortunate commando tried making a mad dash to the rovers but was taken down with ease. Another was put down before the rest spotted the fire coming from the ridge and began to return it. A Cerberus heavy pulled his rocket launcher out and fired, the rocket impacting above them, raining rocks and debris down on the marines. Brady quickly dispatched the heavy, but not before he managed to fire another rocket, this time it struck below them and Ashley cried out as the ground beneath her gave way. The marine tumbled all the way to the bottom, where she lay motionless. One commando tried a mad rush to her but was dropped by Brady.

"Ash! Ashley do you read me!" he shouted into his comm. No reply came and three of the remaining four began to use suppressing fire while one slowly made his way to Williams. Ashley came to just as the Cerberus commando reached her and the two began to tussle. Two continued to fire while one broke off to help wrestle down Ashley.

"Ashley, Brady, this is Shepard, we've cleared the base, coming out now," the commander's voice said over the comms.

"Shepard, we're under fire from Cerberus reinforcements," he shouted back "They've got Ashley!"

"On the way," came Shepard's calm reply.

Brady chanced a peek over the ledge and saw two soldiers dragging the struggling gunnery chief towards the rover while the other two fired up at Daniels. He fired a quick two-shot burst that critically wounded one that was carrying Ashley's legs, enabling her to at least plant her feet and buy some time. The entrance to the base opened and the infiltration team came out guns blazing. The two that were focused on Brady were cut down by Shepard and Logan's assault rifles. Then the squad froze as they spotted the last Cerberus commando holding Ashley at gunpoint. The position he was holding her compromised a rescuing shot from Brady. Through the scope he could see Shepard trying to reason with the soldier.

"Logan, get him to shift a little to your left and signal me if he's not going to cooperate," Brady whispered.

Brady watched as Logan began to slowly and deliberately strafe to his left with his hands out in front of him, in the universal sign of being unarmed, drawing the soldiers attention to him and subsequently opened up a safe shot for Brady to take. Shepard caught on and she slowly moved next to Lerman, still trying to talk down the enemy soldier. Three agonizing minutes passed and Brady had to fight the urge to take the shot. He knew that the first shot would only drop the shields, so he had to be quick on the trigger to kill the Cerberus commando. The sound of an engine brought his attention skyward and he spotted a Cerberus shuttle descending upon the base.

"We're running out of time," the sniper groaned into the radio. Then Logan dropped his hands to his side, the signal Brady had been waiting for. His first shot shattered the commando's shields and the second impacted the foe's shoulder. While it didn't kill him, it gave Ashley the opening she needed and she broke free of his grasp then dove to ground as all four of her squad mates gunned the commando down with their respective weapons.

The shuttle had landed and a squad of ten poured out, firing their weapons along the way. Logan and Shepard provided covering fire for Ashley as she scrambled behind the mako. Brady took out a straggler and took out the shields of another before having to reload. Shepard downed one with a burst from her rifle before throwing a grenade into the fray, which killed two more. Kaidan focused on keeping the enemies out of cover with his warps.

"K-man!" Logan shouted to the lieutenant "Want to help a brother out and make me some targets?"

Kaidan scowled at him before complying and lifting two out of cover. Logan was able to take out one but the other was dispatched via sniper fire.

"Hey, asshole!" Logan shouted into the radio while looking towards the ridge "Get your own targets!"

"Gotta call 'em," came his friend's chuckling reply.

"Four more, one for each of us!" Logan called as he focused on one that was making a break back to the shuttle. Just as the commando reached the craft, a burst took him in the back, killing him instantly.

Kaidan lifted the remaining three and Shepard took out two with a well placed concussive shot, while Brady killed the last. The shuttle began to rise into the sky trying to retreat but before it got more than three stories high the mako's cannon fired, taking out the back right engine and causing it to nose dive into the side of a mountain and explode.

The mako's hatched opened and a grinning Ashley appeared "That felt good," she said.

Shepard nodded "Daniels get down here, Normandy we are ready for pickup," she ordered.

"What did you find in there?" Ashley asked the Shepard while they waited.

Logan snorted "Whole lotta nothing. Barely any credits and the computers wiped nearly anything useful before we could copy it," he answered for the commander.

"We were able to retrieve some, hopefully enough to appease the admirals," Shepard added.

"Still felt nice to get a little revenge for those we lost on Edolus," Kaidan commented, to which Ashley nodded.

The sound of a large ship's engines cut the silence as the Normandy dropped into the atmosphere to land at the base. Ashley dropped back into the Mako to load it back into the hangar while Brady and Logan checked the dead bodies for credits.

Kaidan snarled "Scavengers," he muttered.

"Take it easy on them, Alenko," Shepard said "I think they deserve a little bonus after their work today,"

Kaidan didn't reply but instead headed inside the Normandy to get away from the duo.

_Half an hour later_

"Where are we headed to next, commander?" Brady asked around a mouthful of chef's surprise.

Ashley gave him a disgusted look while Shepard answered "Citadel, I want to talk to Anderson. You'll have at least two days leave. Then on to Feros where there have been reports of Geth attacking, we're going to see what Saren is after,"

"Who's going to be on the ground team for that?" was Daniels' next inquiry after he had swallowed his food.

"Haven't decided yet," she replied "We have twelve hours until we reach the Citadel, I want your gear clean before you step foot out of this ship," the last bit she said aloud to the whole team. The team finished their meal in silence before breaking off to do their duties.

"Don't forget the about the date I was promised," Logan said to Shepard after they were the only two left in the mess hall "Pick you up from the Embassy?"

"Sounds good," Shepard smiled, enjoying the thought of actually being able to spend the evening like a normal human being and the opportunity to wear nice clothes.

As Logan exited the showers he ran, literally, into Kaidan, who sighed angrily and tried to push his way past but Logan planted his feet and stopped him.

"What exactly is your problem with me and Brady?" he asked the lt.

Kaidan sighed again and thought about turning and leaving but decided against it "Your lack of respect, mostly," he snarled.

"I give it where it's deserved," Logan replied "You have treated me like shit since I first stepped foot onto this ship,"

"The way you live your life, taking money to kill. Not caring who it is as long as you get paid," Kaidan responded "I can't stand mercenaries,"

"And you think the military is any different?" Logan chuckled "Wake the fuck up, Kaidan. You're doing the same as me, difference is you believe the bullshit about 'protecting the weak' and 'greater good of the galaxy',"

The Lieutenant scowled "No, I'm not like you. I'm loyal to more than who can pay me the most,"

Logan chuckled again "Only because the Alliance sweetened the deal with benefits. Benefits that most don't live long enough to see. And if me being a mercenary is the reason you hate me, then how does Wrex get a free pass?"

"I don't like Wrex anymore than you, but at least he doesn't look at every mission as an opportunity to scrounge for credits," Kaidan answered "You and Brady seem to be along on this ride for one thing, money,"

"Well no shit," Logan barked "I've been honest about my intentions since the beginning. I've got a kid that needs feeding, and a mother that needs constant medical care. I'm not here for 'honor' or some dumb shit like that,"

"Then maybe you shouldn't be here at all," Kaidan said before roughly shouldering past Logan.

_Citadel, restaurant by the name of Flagship_

"That's when Erickson took an interest in me," Shepard explained while they waited for their food. Logan was pleasantly surprised when he had arrived at the embassy to pick her up. He thought she was attractive already, but the blue dress she wore along with a necklace and earrings made her look absolutely stunning. And judging by the stares she received as he escorted her through the restaurant, he wasn't the only one who appreciated the way she looked. Also the looks of jealousy he received from some of the male patrons was all the more sweeter. Most of the time had been idle chit chat, but the conversation had ended up on the Tenth Street Reds.

"He did have a thing for redheads," Logan agreed.

"I refused all of his advances, though," she continued "I wasn't going to be another one of his girls, he had four already. Then he tried selling me to another gang, but a friend of mine, at the time, convinced him to keep me around."

"Your friend must have had Erickson's respect," Logan stated.

"It was his brother," Shepard replied, grinning at Logan's astonished look "He had a crush on me, I could tell, but I wanted to leave the Reds and join the military,"

"What did he think of that?" Logan asked.

"Hated me for it, when he found out. Told Erickson and I got beat out of the gang," Shepard responded,"

"Asshole, shoulda killed him when I had the chance," Logan said, suddenly angry at the thought of a helpless eighteen year old Shepard being beaten by a group of grown men.

"I've grown past it," Shepard admitted "When I got out of basic, the first thing I wanted to do was go back to Earth and give him a taste of his own medicine, but a friend talked me out of it,"

"You're a better person than me, I would have given him more than what he dished to me, had I been in your position," Logan said "Must be nice having all these friends around to help you,"

"You know this friend. His name is Captain David Anderson," Shepard laughed out loud at Logan's, once again, astonished face.

"Still, though, you've had all these people in your life, helping you. I've only had my me to rely on to learn from mistakes, and boy was there a lot of mistakes," Logan said with a chuckle.

"What about Brady?" Shepard asked "And Stephen?"

"Brady's dad didn't like us hanging out together. Said I was a bad influence on him," Logan replied "Back then Stephen and I didn't get along, wasn't until we both moved to the Citadel that we became good friends,"

Their conversation paused as the waitress delivered their food and they continued to eat in silence for a few moments.

"How are you getting along on the Normandy?" Shepard asked.

Logan chortled "This is a date, Shepard, we aren't supposed to talk about work,"

Shepard chuckled as well "Sorry, it's been so long that I don't know anything else," she joked.

"To answer your question though, I'm getting along just fine," Logan said "Only have a small problem to deal with right now, but I can handle it,"

"Kaidan?" Shepard asked.

Logan nodded "I guess I understand why he doesn't like me but it's whatever,"

"He'll come around," Shepard stated "He's slow to trust, especially someone like you who was working for a crime lord,"

A few more minutes of silence passed in which they both finished their dishes and drinks. Logan paid for their meals and they exited. Logan had parked a few blocks away to allow them time for conversation when they had arrived but now it was an awkward silence.

"When you worked as a mercenary, how low did it get?" Shepard asked carefully.

"Pretty low. I've done things I regret, but life goes on," Logan responded as they entered the skycar.

"I said it before and I'll say it again. You don't have to do those things anymore," she pressed.

"I wish I could stop, I really do," Logan said giving her a remorseful look "But I- it's hard to explain,"

"If you ever need to help, you know you can talk to me," Shepard said placing a hand on his shoulder, to which he nodded without looking her in the eye. They sat in silence for yet another few minutes.

"Where am I taking you?" Logan asked, breaking the silence "You're welcome to stay at my place, my mom has my daughter still,"

She shot him a sly smile "No one to bother us, eh?"

"You went there, I didn't," Logan chuckled.

Shepard shared his laughter "Take me to the Normandy," she said and at his confused look she continued "Sorry, but I still have a lot of reports to file from Nepheron. I'll be up half the night and it wouldn't be fair to deprive you of sleep as well,"

"I wouldn't mind but whatever you say," Logan responded and it hurt Shepard to hear the slight disappointment in his voice.

"I would like to meet your daughter, though," Shepard said "Next time we're on the Citadel, maybe?"

Logan smiled and nodded "Sounds like a plan,"

Logan landed twenty yards from the Normandy, giving them a bit of space to finish up conversation as he walked her to the airlock, not that there was any.

"I had fun tonight, Logan," Shepard said with a smile "I look forward to doing this again,"

"Me too, Shepard," Logan replied matching her grin.

"Outside of the mission you can call me Jenna," she stated.

Logan nodded and there was a couple moments pause before he leaned in and kissed her. They broke apart and Shepard nervously chuckled, her face blazing.

"Goodnight, Jenna," Logan said, his own face red.

"Goodnight Logan," she responded and turned to enter the airlock.

Logan waited until the airlock shut before turning and heading back to his car. After he was concealed inside he laughed in triumph while punching at the air multiple times.


	7. Chapter 7

Shepard and her crew stepped out of the Normandy's airlock onto a Feros dock. After receiving a report about the geth force that had landed recently she decided it was best to bring along the whole crew. Looking around at the destruction the synthetic army had created, she felt a pang of guilt for ignoring the colony for this long. The squad strode down the walkway, the sounds of battle in the distance showing the colony hadn't been defeated yet.

A colonist met them before they left the dock "We saw your ship," he said, his demeanor indicating he was exhausted "Fai Dan wants to speak with you immediately,"

"Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked.

"He's our leader. He needs your help to prepare for the geth. They're making another push," he droned "Please, up the stairs past the freighter,"

Suddenly a geth heavy popped around the corner and fired a rocket that impacted the colonist and sending him flying and landing in a heap of broken bones. Shepard was the quickest to react as she yanked her pistol out and dispatched the geth. Liara stared in shock as Garrus inspected the dead colonist.

"More on the way!" Brady shouted and unloaded with his hurricane, downing the first trooper. Liara dropped into cover, her pistol sliding out her hand and clattering to the floor.

"Liara, are you alright?" Tali shouted to the asari causing her to stare back up at the quarian, her mouth moving trying to answer but not able to speak. Liara flinched when a body dropped next to her, but relaxed, slightly, when she realized it was Garrus.

"You injured, T'Soni?" he asked as he popped a fresh clip into his sniper rifle. Still not begin able to form words, the asari shook her head. The gunfire died down as the geth were easily taken out by the squad.

"This isn't your first battle, asari," Wrex stated in annoyance and Liara looked to the ground "Hmph," was his reaction as he strode away.

"If you can't handle this then maybe you better wait on the ship," Logan suggested tactlessly.

Brady scowled at him before kneeling in front of the asari "I know this isn't easy, but it needs to be done," he said and Liara nodded without breaking eye contact "Just stick with me, I'll help you,"

The human stood and helped the asari to her feet and stepped back while she brushed herself off "I'm so sorry, his death was just so... sudden,"

"That will happen in battle," Shepard spoke up "You have to be ready to face that and react accordingly,"

"Yes, Shepard, again I'm sorry," Liara said and once again dropped her gaze while still feeling the stares of the whole squad.

To save her from further embarrassment Brady started to follow where Wrex had gone "Come on, the colony won't save itself," he declared.

Before Liara could follow a gloved, three-fingered, hand grabbed her arm "Liara, your pistol," Tali said as she handed the asari her firearm back. The rest of the walk to the colony's center was uneventful, even the guards let them by without question. They were obviously happy to see more people come to help take care of the geth.

Logan stopped just past the barricade to take in his surroundings "These people are running on fumes. They're putting up a gallant fight but it won't take much more to break them," he stated and the rest of crew couldn't help but agree. Even the most energetic members, running around and helping anyway they could, had a despaired look about them.

Shepard focused in on different conversations the colonists were having as they passed by and discovered the colony's water supply had been disrupted, the colony was running low on food, and the power had been cut off.

"Daniels, go see what you can do to help. Take Lerman and T'Soni with you," She ordered.

"Ma'am," Brady affirmed and the trio walked off.

"Let's go see what this Fai Dan wants," Shepard said and the crew set off to find the leader.

_In the tunnels_

Logan peppered a geth trooper with his assault rifle while Brady reloaded his hurricane. Liara dismantled a geth destroyer with her biotics before ducking the return fire from the synthetics.

"That's it!" Brady shouted encouragingly to the asari before stepping out and gunning down a trooper himself.

Logan took down the last one with a well placed burst to the synthetic's head "Last panel," he said as he ran up to a terminal and activated it, turning on the colony's water "Now then, we just need some varren meat and power cells,"

Brady nodded then indicated towards a massive opening "Through here," he said.

As soon as they stepped through they were met with the familiar growls of varren. Four of the animals stalked towards them while one massive beast sat atop a pile of rubble.

Logan traded out his rifle for the shotgun "Disgusting things," he muttered. The four varren suddenly rushed, snarling viciously. Brady put down the first with a small burst from his SMG while Liara tossed two of them back. Logan trained his sights on one as it dashed at him and the beast roared as it leaped into the air, but it was quickly silenced by the shotgun. Liara gunned down a third with her pistol and the fourth took a full hurricane clip before it dropped. The alpha varren growled and charged them with surprising speed for its size. It didn't get within six feet of the squad before combined fire brought it down.

"How are we going to get all of this back to the colony?" Logan asked as he glanced about at the five dead beasts.

"We'll have to get help from the colony," Brady stated, slightly distracted by an abandoned vehicle they all had failed to notice in the fight with the varren "But first, I think we've found our power cells,"

The squad stopped in front of the vehicle and Logan, being the most mechanically minded of the three, got to work removing the power cells. It wasn't long before he had two sizable cylinders on the ground at their feet.

"Now what?" he asked "It would be a waste of time to get colonist help to carry just two of these,"

"I'll carry one and you two carry the other," Brady suggested but before they could act on it the two cells suddenly lifted into the air with a blue aura surrounding them.

Liara was surrounded by the same blue aura "Or I could do this," she offered.

Logan laughed as Brady patted her on the back "Good work, Liara," he said. The trio made their way back to the colony, still on alert even though they had eliminated the resistance. After stepping into the heart of the colony they noticed Garrus milling about alone.

"What are you still doing here Garrus?" Brady asked as they handed the cells off to the woman who requested them.

"Shepard asked that I wait here with you in case they need backup," he said looking relieved as he quickly made his way towards them, then dropped his voice "I also have a feeling they're hiding something,"

"What makes you think that?" Logan asked as he noticed a few colonists staring at the group, their blank faces making him uneasy.

"Earlier they were trying to move a large piece of debris, looked like a part of a ship. They couldn't move it so I told them they should use the crane but they declined," he said, also noting that more of the colonist were taking notice of their conversation "When I tried to use the crane anyway they drew their weapons on me,"

Brady stole a quick glance at the crane "It's attached to the freighter," he stated.

"Exactly. Look," he said and pointed to the ground next to where the frigate sat "Those footprints all indicate they came from the ship but-"

"It's a solid wall," Brady finished, his instincts going berserk as he noted the quantity of the footprints "The door is around the corner. There must be something underneath,"

"My thoughts exactly," Garrus said.

The group took notice of a single colonist walking towards them gripping an assault rifle "Excuse me but could you ple-"

He was stopped by Logan drawing his pistol on the him "Whoa whoa whoa, back the fuck off!" he warned. Silence followed, broken only by the rest of the colonists unfolding their weapons.

"Garrus," Brady muttered out of the corner of his mouth "Activate the crane,"

The turian spun and in one swift movement hit the activation on the crane, causing it to raise a section of the freighter, revealing an entrance to more tunnels. The colonist that had confronted them raised his rifle but Logan beat him to the proverbial punch and shot him down with one pull of the trigger.

"Go! Into the tunnel, now!" Brady shouted as the colonists raised their weapons. Bullets pinged off the walls around them as they sprinted down the steps. Brady pivoted to return fire but suddenly the crane activated again and the freighter section began to lower.

"They're sealing us in!" Liara shouted.

"Shepard! This is Daniels, the colonists fired on us, they're sealing us below the freighter," he said into his radio.

"Daniels," came the reply, nearly muffled by static "Say agai- cut o-,"

"Shepard," Brady continued "Shepard!"

No reply came and Brady switched off his radio "Shit!" he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the tunnels. After the freighter settled into the place the squad was placed into complete darkness, however it was shattered moments later by the whole squad activating their omni-tool flashlights.

"Only one way to go," Garrus said, indicating the stairs that went further down "Come on,"

Time was lost among the squad as they squad made their way through the tunnels, the two humans slightly unnerved by the darkness and a few times they swore they could hear rugged breathing. One of the times Logan thought he heard it again he spun around but lost his footing and fell with a heavy thud. The other three turned quickly and saw him pick himself up into a kneeling position, his hands and part of his back covered in a dark green slime.

"What is this shit?" he asked "Fuck, it stinks," his faced contorted in disgust as he gagged loudly, to the amusement of Brady.

Logan shot Brady a glare as he wiped his hands on the wall "Great fucking idea, Brady. Corner ourselves in a tunnel, how could this go wrong?" he said sarcastically.

"The colonists weren't exactly giving me the luxury of taking my time to decide," Brady retorted.

Logan dropped his accusations for the moment "Yeah, the fuck was up with that? I could see how one person may have overheard us, but it was like the whole colony knew what we were talking about," he said.

"They were like that when I mentioned using the crane to move the rubble," Garrus stated "As soon as I made the suggestion, everyone was staring at me. Even the lookouts,"

"Then they pulled their weapons on us for no reason," Logan continued.

Brady glared at him "Maybe because you put a bullet through one of their friend's head," he pointed out.

"He drew on me and I acted in defense," Logan shot back "How long do I wait to react, oh great master? Three bullets? Four?"

"You wait and let Garrus or I do the talking!" he shouted "He was acting strange bur he was exercising gun safety, his finger wasn't on the trigger,"

"And what about the rest of the colonist," Logan countered "We supposed to wait while they surround us?" suddenly a headache overcame Logan and he brought a hand to his forehead and he gritted his teeth in pain.

Brady didn't seem to notice "You wait for me to tell you what to do, idiot!" he shouted.

"Guys, this isn't helping our situation. Let's press on, see if there's an exit," Garrus cut in, and walked in between the two to continue further into the tunnels.

"Come on, Logan," Brady snarled "And try not to gun down any more colonists,"

The jibe stung more than it should of and before Logan could retort his headache intensified causing him to close his eyes in pain. When he opened them he was stunned to find that he had leveled his pistol to the back of Brady's retreating figure. Despite his disorientation from the pain, his aim was perfect, the sights aligned with the back of Brady's head.

_Do it _a strange voice suddenly commanded in his head _Kill the betrayers_. Logan had to fight with every fiber in his body to not pull the trigger and found he couldn't control the rest of his body either. Then suddenly he took a deep breath and he felt himself regain control of his body as his arm fell to his side. The human stared down at his pistol, his breathing frantic. Noticing a figure to his left out of the corner of his eye, he started, but it was just Liara. The asari was staring at him in shock, scared to speak to him after what she just witnessed. Logan just shook his head and took off to follow his friends, not wanting to speak of what just transpired. Logan and Liara caught up wit the other two when they spotted light coming from up ahead that caused them to pick up their pace. They broke out into a massive cavern, the light coming from way above. What caught their attention, however, was the massive being in the center of the cavern. The parasite was suspended over a deep pit, multiple tentacles attached to the walls, holding it up.

Logan's headache suddenly spiked back up, causing him to groan loudly in pain and stumble. The other two were too enthralled by the alien to notice. They also didn't notice footsteps approaching from behind.

"We found you!" a voice shouted, startling the group "When we couldn't find you up there we became worried," it was Shepard and the rest of the team.

"What is that?" Ashley asked in amazement.

"This must be the Thorian," Shepard mused "Bigger than I imagined,"

Kaidan glanced around the cavern "What's wrong with Logan and who's the asari?"

The rest of the team turned to discover Logan doubled over in pain and a green asari dressed in commando leathers standing by his side. The team readied their weapons but refrained from aiming them at the alien.

"Who are you?" Shepard demanded.

Logan stood to his full height, anger etched into his face that matched the asari's "Kill the betrayers!" they both shouted in unison before opening fire on the squad who scrambled for cover. Moans filled the air and a group of humanoid figures lumbered through the door.

"The hell are those things?" Brady shouted.

"Thorian creepers. We ran into some back at Zhu's Hope," Ashley answered as she took one down with her assault rifle "They don't take many bullets to put down but they're dangerous in high volume so don't let them swarm you,"

Garrus took out the asari with a head shot from his sniper rifle "What do we do about Logan?" he asked as the human in question spent a thermal clip on the turian's cover.

Wrex stood and threw the human with his biotics, but Logan shook it off and stood back up to return the attack.

"Do not kill him, he's under the Thorian's control," she ordered.

"What?" Brady shouted "That thing can control us?"

Kaidan threw a couple of creepers off the edge into the pit "Yeah, that's what was wrong with the colonists,"

Shepard pulled out her last grenade that had the nerve toxin upgrade and primed it. She waited until Logan was reloading to launch it at the him. The last thing Logan saw was a disc flying right towards his face, then darkness.

"The fuck did you do to him?" Brady shouted as he dashed to his friends side.

"Nerve toxin," Shepard explained "We had to use it on the colonists as well. It was the only way to stop them without killing them. Liara, stay here with Logan, the rest of you on me,"

"What if he wakes up?" Liara asked, not keen on being alone with the human.

"These gas grenades were meant for multiple targets, he inhaled enough for at least three. He's going to be out for a few hours. On the off chance he does wake up, place him in stasis until I return," Shepard responded "Let's go kill us a Thorian,"

"Oorah!" Brady shouted.

The squad moved to the next room, where they were met by more creepers, guarding one of the tentacles. Brady chanced a grenade which he threw at the appendage, the explosion causing the tentacle to break free of the wall and the Thorian to emit a cry of pain.

"That hurt it, I can tell," Wrex stated "A few more of those and that thing will drop,"

"Alright, Brady ready more grenades. Everyone else, provide covering fire for him," Shepard ordered.

The squad moved on, gunning down creepers and asari clones along the way. Shepard was glad she had brought the whole team along as she felt that a smaller squad would have trouble dealing with the amount of creepers. They came upon another tentacle and they were rushed by more creepers. Wrex used his biotics to keep the mutants off Brady as he stepped forward to throw a grenade that took out another tentacle. Soon they were at the final appendage and were swarmed by creepers. Even more so than the others and ti caused Brady to join the firefight.

"How many of these things are there?" Garrus asked, popping a new clip in his rifle "I'm running low,"

"Kaidan, Wrex, on my signal muster everything you got and throw them bastards back," Shepard ordered "Ready? Now!"

A massive biotic wave flew through the air, killing some and knocking the rest back. Brady threw the grenade but the explosion didn't completely knock the tentacle free. While the creepers were still recovering Tali dashed forward and pulled her knife out of her boot, jumped up onto the tentacle, and began hacking away.

"Covering fire!" Shepard shouted and the halls echoed with the deafening roar of gunfire, protecting the quarian.

Suddenly the tentacle broke free and the Thorian toppled with Tali still atop the appendage. Brady tossed his SMG to the side and made a running slide to the edge of the pit and caught the quarian's hand before she completely disappeared over the edge. Far below the Thorian landed with a crunch that shook the ground and the rest of the creepers dropped where they were. With just one hand, Brady was struggling to pull Tali back up when Wrex leaned over the edged and hauled the quarian up effortlessly. Shepard couldn't help but smile at the display of camaraderie and teamwork. The squad rested for a moment before making their way back to Liara and the still unconscious Logan.

"Commander, look," Ahley said. On the wall a sac popped open and an asari, purple this time, popped out of it. The alien stood and attempted to wipe some of the slime off herself before noticing the squad.

"Brady, Garrus, take Logan back to the Normandy. Liara and Tali go with them," Shepard said without taking her eyes off the asari.

Brady and Garrus slung Logan's arms over their necks and dragged him back towards the stair that ascended to Zhu's hope, with Tali and Liara following.

_Normandy med bay, 2 hours later_

Logan slowly regained conscious and carefully opened his eyes, the light causing his head to throb. Chakwas was alerted to his waking up by a groan of pain from the man.

"Awake, finally?" she asked sweetly "How are you feeling?"

"Like a fifth of tequila and an ass kicking," Logan responded.

Chakwas smirked "As to be expected. You took in quite a bit of nerve toxin. Enough to down a krogan,"

"Then how am I alive?" Logan asked as he sat up.

"It's non-lethal but I ran tests to make sure there was no damage," she assured him "Should I tell the commander you're awake?"

"Nah, I'll find her," Logan stated as he stood "If I'm clear to leave,"

Chakwas nodded "Go, get something to eat, but no heavy lifting for a few days," she warned.

Logan stepped out into the empty mess hall and immediately dropped into an empty seat. He barely registered footsteps approaching from behind and tried to ignore the figure that stepped around in front of him.

"You look like crap," Ashley declared.

"The only time I feel like this is if I had a good time the night before," Logan said "But I know that's not what happened,"

Ashley smirked "Nope, you pissed off your girlfriend,"

"She's not my girlfr- wait she's mad at me?" Logan asked as he stood.

Ashley nodded and Logan took off to the commander's quarters. He knocked and after a few agonizing moments the door opened to reveal an exhausted looking Shepard.

"Logan," she said, her demeanor immediately perking up "Good to see you up and about," the commander stood to the side to let him in, then let the door shut "How are you feeling?"

"Like a krogan is sitting on my head," he responded to which she chuckled "What happened?"

"The Thorian was able to take over your mind. He used you to try and kill us," she stated "I'll admit you were doing a good job,"

"Did I- you know, hurt anyone?" Logan asked and held his breath.

"No," Shepard responded and Logan let out an explosive sigh "But you managed to take down my shields and out a new ding in my armor,"

Logan gritted his teeth at that "Sorry," he said.

"It's alright," she responded "You weren't yourself,"

"You're not holding it against me?" Logan asked with narrowed eyes.

"How could I?" Shepard chuckled "We killed it though, it won't be taking over anyone else mind again,"

They sat in silence for a minute "Where we headed to now?" Logan asked.

"Since it isn't too far away, I set a course for Noveria," she responded "We'll be there in about a day,"

Logan nodded "I'm gonna go find Brady, we'll talk some more later after you get some sleep," he said

"Look forward to it," she said "To the sleep, I mean" she corrected quickly and her faze became red.

"Of course," Logan agreed, fighting a smile "See ya,"

As soon as he left Shepard's room he made a beeline to Ashley, who was sitting alone eating "Why did you tell me Shepard was angry with me?" he asked angrily.

Ashley looked up at him with a sly smile "To confirm my suspicions," she answered "You have a thing for the commander,"

Logan's face turned began to burn at the accusation "I- she's my- what makes you say that?" he asked.

"The way you ran off to her after I told you she was mad at you, the way you stare at her when she's not looking, and I'm a woman, I can just tell," she answered "I approve,"

Logan started at that "You ap- what?" he asked.

"I approve. Shepard deserves someone she can act like a human being with," Ashley replied "And you make her happy and she obviously makes you happy, so why not?"

Logan narrowed his eyes in suspicion "She's talked about me to you hasn't she?"

"Maybe," she answered coyly "That's not the point, though. Just don't ruin it,"

"I don't plan on it," Logan replied honestly.

"Glad to hear it," Ashley declared "Because you don't want to piss off a woman's best friend,"

Logan shook his head as he stood and made his way to the elevator, intending on finding Brady. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face, however, as what Williams had just told him and the talk he had with Shepard was still fresh.

/

**A/N: One of my, who am I kidding, My ONLY New Years Resolution was to update this story more often, so here is another chapter! I realize I've been focusing more on Logan than Brady, so I'll try to balance it in the coming chapters but Logan is the main focus of this story.**


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